In A Moment
by JanieMarple
Summary: Avery grabbed one of the rifles that had been on display. Peter recognized it, cataloging the caliber and the muzzle velocity. .30 caliber. 2,800 feet per second. You'd either never know what had hit you, or it might just go through you. M just to be safe
1. Chapter 1

**In A Moment**

_Written, spellchecked, etc. by JanieMarple._

Standard disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, nor any of the characters therein, all non-recognizable characters are not up for grabs. Yes this goes AU and yes there is a pairing in it that is AU. Don't like it? Don't read it. Originally written as a gift for my best friend.

* * *

><p><em>Our cover is blown, where is Neal? We have to get out of here.<em>

Peter bolted toward the vault that Neal was looking for the ledger in.

_I should stop telling him he'll go back to prison if we can't crack the case, he can't always function like that._

Avery grabbed one of the many rifles that had been on display. Peter recognized it, mentally cataloging the caliber and the muzzle velocity. _M-1 Garand, .30 caliber. 2,800 feet per second._ That could go two ways. You'd either never know what had hit you, or it might just go through you. You might have a shot. Maybe. Bones wouldn't slow it much though.

"Neal!" Peter shouted. Neal looked up from the box he was examining in surprise. "Neal, our cover is blown," he said quickly. Neal looked at him in surprise, then looked back behind them. "Peter, get down!" Neal said quickly, pushing Peter to the ground.

Peter heard a shot fired, and then the heavy lexan door slid shut. "Did he get you?" Peter asked, getting up quickly. "We have to find the kill switch," Neal said, handing him the breather. "We'll both use it, Neal," Peter said. "No. That's only two and half minutes for each of us, and that's not enough. We have to find the kill switch," Neal said, and scrambled to his feet to find it.

There was panic in Neal's eyes, he was afraid. "I trust you, Peter," Neal said, trying overcome the panic.

Peter looked all over the walls, not even noticing that Neal's hands were shaking. Neal finally got his attention, trying to show him the kill switch was here on the wall, because Neal was very quickly giving in to lack of oxygen. Peter ran over and got there just as Neal crumpled to the floor. Avery was already aiming for Neal on the other side of the lexan.

Hit the button, let the air back in the room to save Neal, and let Avery shoot him instead? Neal didn't have a hope in hell. And there was already blood on the carpet. Neal _had_ taken that bullet. His chances were not good to begin with, Avery not withstanding. As Peter hesitated, Jones and crew rushed up behind Avery and Reed. Peter hit the button, dropping to the floor beside Neal. He raced to pull Neal's shirt back from his wound, needing to see the extent.

"Dammit Neal, you can't just die on me, you owe me four years!" Peter hissed.

"Jones, we've got a man down!" Peter yelled. Jones radioed it in, requesting an ambulance, as Peter tried to find Neal's pulse.

Three agents came into the vault, putting down their weapons, one of them taking off her flak vest. "Rae, I need your help," Peter said quickly, glancing at her. Rae knelt near Neal's head, her fingertips going to his jugular furrow. "No heartbeat, Peter, need you to do some chest compressions, see if we can get him back," Rae said, lifting Neal's head so she could open his mouth and try to breathe for him.

His lips were tinged blue, lack of oxygen had pushed him to collapse for sure, but the lack of a heartbeat could have been the loss of blood, in which case there would be no coming back. As Peter began CPR, Rae grabbed the cigarettes out of Jones' pocket, pulling the cellophane off of the package to use to cover the gunshot wound. Peter paused the chest compressions, and Rae tried to force breath into Neal's lungs, trying to revive him. Nothing. No heartbeat. No breathing.

The EMT's showed up, charging the defibrillator. Rae moved Peter back as they put the paddles to Neal's body. "Clear!" said the one, and Peter watched in distress as Neal's body jerked in response to the shock. Nothing. Could Neal come back from this? Was it too late?

The other EMT administered epinephrine as they charged up the defibrillator again. Another clear, and they tried to shock Neal's heart back into rhythm once again. Ah, this time there was a sign of life, Neal's heart decided to try to beat. "He needs intubated, I don't think he can breathe on his own," Rae put in. "And I don't know if the bullet went all the way through or not."

Very quickly the EMTs threaded a tracheal tube down Neal's throat, hurrying to get oxygen back into his system, trying to nullify the near suffocation. Rae's cellophane quick fix had worked fairly well, only she hadn't gotten to the exit wound. They rolled Neal to his side carefully, then covered that as well, nixing the sucking chest wound. Neal hadn't even come close to regaining consciousness, and Peter wondered how much damage that meant there was.

The EMTs got Neal prepped for transport, having Jones radio for medevac. 

_If they're calling in a helicopter, this is bad._

Jones recognized Peter's fear that he'd basically killed Neal. "Rae, I want you to drive for Peter," he said. "You know they'll take him to Bellevue."

Rae acknowleged the order and moved to obey. Add to that that Rae was one of the best drivers in the department, and she might not be that much slower than a helicopter. Rae hurried Peter along, not letting him stare at them loading Neal into the helicopter for very long.

"I'm gonna warn you now, his chances aren't good but they're better than they could have been. If the wound was in his left lung I think I'd write him off, but it is his right lung and there's less chance for damage to his heart," Rae said, unlocking the black Mustang. Not a typical department vehicle.

"Rae, I don't want to hear it," Peter said, getting in the passenger seat.

"You need to," Rae said, starting the car and throwing it into gear. "Suffocation and a sucking chest wound, a collapsed lung, serious blood loss, Peter he could very well be brain damaged even if he makes it."

"How can you be so goddamn cold, Rae?" Peter spat, angry. "I'm not being cold. I'm realizing there could be a problem we don't know about yet," Rae shot back.

_Freakin ice princess. I should have known Rae was this cold. How else would she hold her own? God El's gonna kill me, I can't have killed Neal, I can't have._

"Bellevue is the best trauma center in the city, Peter. If he's got a shot, they're the ones who can save him," Rae said, nudging her boss. "I know Rae, I know," Peter said, his elbow resting on the door of the Mustang.

Rae swore softly, and hit a button on the dash, kicking the Mustang up a little harder. 

_She does have the lights rigged up on this thing. It is a department vehicle._

"You damn well better be buckled," Rae said, pushing the car into a turn Peter would never have thought it could make. Peter clung to the door handle for dear life, wondering if _he_ was going to make it home tonight. 

_Rae has never been in an accident, she knows what she's doing. Just pretend you believe that._

If anything, when they did get to Bellevue, they were five minutes behind the helicopter. They were immediately told to wait, because there was nothing to tell them yet. Peter sat down with a sigh, pulling his cell out of his pocket to call Elizabeth.

"Peter are you alright? I heard someone got shot!" she exclaimed, answering him on the first ring. "It wasn't me, El," he tried to reassure her.

"Was it Lauren? Or Jones?" Elizabeth asked, distressed. "No, El, it wasn't. It was Neal," Peter sighed.

"Neal's been shot?" Elizabeth asked softly. "Is he alright?"

"I don't know yet, El. We're waiting to see," Peter said. "Is anyone there with you?" she asked. "Rae. Rae drove," Peter replied, seeing Rae coming back with two cups of coffee.

"I'll be there in a few minutes, but I want to talk to Rae," Elizabeth said.

Rae supplied Elizabeth with all the pertinent information, pleasantly enough, and handed the phone back to Peter. And then went off to try to work her charm on someone for more information. She came back just as Elizabeth showed up.

"Well they do know for sure that there's some serious internal bleeding, and the bullet broke his shoulder blade," Rae said, raising her hands in a gesture of defeat. "He's in the OR right now, quite the team they've got working on him."

"What are we going to do with him when he gets out? We can't very well just leave him with June. She shouldn't have to nurse him," Elizabeth mused.

"It'll be a while before he gets out," Peter said in surprise. "If he lives."

"Pretty sure he will," Rae said, somewhat amused.

"We should keep him with us, Peter, he'd be safe there," Elizabeth said. "Whoa no. I need Neal-free time. You need Neal-free time. That's not gonna work at all," Peter protested.

Rae spotted the potential conflict. "I'll take him," she offered, not really sure if she wanted to. "Oh sure so he can work his charms on _you_, too," Peter scoffed. Rae raised an eyebrow.

"He's more likely to end up on the floor," she said. "I work white collar too, Peter. I'm pretty well aware of the legend of Neal Caffrey. I just don't get to work the glamorous end that you do."

Peter opened his mouth to protest, and then realized that Rae had him on that. She was the brains of the outfit most days. And there was no Harvard jab he could make at her, because she was Southern and had no respect for Harvard either. "I give, Rae. If you think you can take him, by all means," Peter shrugged.

"I'm a little outside your two miles," Rae laughed.

"I can have them change the location. I was thinking about upping it to five miles without telling him," Peter shrugged.

* * *

><p>They waited for what seemed like forever, not sure what they expected to hear, not sure what they wanted to hear. Then finally the nurse at the desk waved them over. "Mr. Caffrey is out of recovery, we're moving him to the trauma wing. It's looking pretty good, though. We're going to keep him on a ventilator until we're reasonably sure he's not going to have his lung collapse again or edema," she said softly. "So probably about another fifteen minutes and you can go see for yourselves."<p>

"Is he conscious yet?" Peter asked.

"He was briefly conscious in the recovery room. He's not conscious now. He won't be for a while, Agent Burke, he's in a medically induced coma so he can't move that shoulder," the nurse replied.

"Brain damage?" Rae asked.

The nurse shrugged. "No idea yet. Some is likely, simply from the oxygen deprivation. But it's something we won't be sure of until he can be awake," she said. "We can run some cognitive tests then."

They waited their fifteen minutes, and then someone came to lead them to Neal's room. One of the surgeons met them there. "I heard you were worried about possible brain damage?" he asked Peter. "Yes, we were in a vacuum sealed vault..." Peter said.

The surgeon nodded. "The EMTs said that. There is a possibility for brain damage, but I think for the most part he may have gotten away unscathed. He had substantial strokes of luck," he said. "He'd have bled out if that bullet had been a millimeter higher."

"Can we see him?" Elizabeth asked. "Sure. All I ask is that you be as quiet as possible," the surgeon said.

Neal was so quiet and still, lying in that hospital bed, the cardiac monitor beeping away, the hiss of the ventilator. His shoulder was pretty heavilly bandaged, an IV line in his other arm. He looked so peaceful. Elizabeth took his hand in her own. "Hi Neal. It's El. You're going to be okay," she said, even though she knew he wasn't with it. "Yeah, and you can't very well run from me in this state," Peter cracked softly.

They kept their visit short, and Peter and Elizabeth headed home, while Rae kept up her offer and met with a couple of the doctors to learn Neal's prognosis.


	2. Chapter 2

**In A Moment**

_Written, spellchecked, etc. by JanieMarple._

Standard disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, nor any of the characters therein, all non-recognizable characters are not up for grabs. Yes this goes AU and yes there is a pairing in it that is AU. Don't like it? Don't read it. Originally written as a gift for my best friend.

* * *

><p>Peter was eager to know what Rae had learned when he arrived at the office the next morning, but she wasn't there yet. Jones said she was running an hour late on an errand for the department, and Peter could ask her his plethora of questions when she got here.<p>

When Rae walked in the door carrying a heavy box, Peter snatched the box from her and ushered her into the office. "What'd they say? When will Neal wake up? Did they find any brain damage?" Peter demanded.

"They gave me the anticipated recovery time, an idea of how long he'd be in the hospital, and they'll stop inducing the coma tomorrow. He might wake up tomorrow evening. But he won't be with it right away," Rae sighed, rolling her eyes. "And no, they don't know if there's any brain damage. They already told you it's not that simple."

"So we have to put the tracking anklet back on him tomorrow," Jones guessed. Rae grinned obnoxiously. "You go right ahead and do that, but it'll be at least a week before that's necessary," she chuckled.

"Why? What's wrong?" Peter asked.

"Nothing is wrong. He's going to be on some fun painkillers, and if he can get out of that bed, let alone walk, it'll be damn impressive," Rae said. "He had a freakin open chest wound and a collapsed lung. He has to be on painkillers just so he'll breathe normally."

"You still sure you're up to taking this broken con man on when it's all said and done?" Peter asked in some trepidation. Rae smiled, but this one didn't seem teasing or mean. "I'm still going to do it, Peter. If you and Elizabeth want to check out my dwelling place first, that's perfectly fine," Rae said. "I don't think Neal will be in a hurry to get out of it and I don't think it'll be an issue."

"She has cars," Jones shrugged. "How many cars?" Peter asked.

"Six," said Hughes, joining the conversation. "Why six cars? Who needs that many cars?" Peter asked in shock. "I only have one car!"

"You're not one of our designated drivers," Hughes laughed.

"They're seized cars, Peter, they've been repurposed," Rae laughed.

"And when she's not driving, she's breaking codes and computer problems," Hughes said. "So leaving her with Caffrey is not going to be a challenge for anyone."

"Sounds like providence sent you this way then, Rae. Hope Neal realizes how good he's about to have it," Peter said. "I still want a look at this place."

"Sure. Bring El and come on by," Rae shrugged. "Hughes will give you the address."

* * *

><p>Still, at the end of the day, the place he and Elizabeth pulled up at was not what Peter had expected. "Oh wow, Rae owns this?" El asked. "No, the department does," Peter said. "But they have only Rae here."<p>

The place was palatial, and the cars were kept out back in a large garage, shielded from prying eyes. Peter drove the sedan he was used to driving through the gate into the back drive, and parked it beside the garage. "Hello Peter, El," Rae said cheerilly, still in her bureau attire. "Would you like to see the house or the garage first?" "The garage," Peter admitted.

Rae led them in, showing them the undercover vehicles she was keeping. "Got the Roush Mustang from yesterday, that's my favorite, an Audi R8, also nice, sometimes, umm, there's a Lamborghini Gallardo Valentino Balboni, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, a Mercedes Benz E-Class coupe, and a BMW M-6 convertible. They run the gamut," Rae shrugged. "Whole lotta power here," Peter whistled, eyeing the cars. "And Neal can't start any of them, so we're golden," Rae said. "House now?"

Elizabeth nodded eagerly.

There was a crapload of computers, more than likely because that was what Rae specialized in, and other than that the place was really quite nice and spacious, and there wasn't anywhere for Neal to get to that Rae couldn't find him.

"I definitely approve," Elizabeth said firmly. "I think he can live with it." "Well geeze, we could trade if he'd rather live at our place!" Peter said sarcasticly.

"I'd trade you in a heartbeat," Rae said. "Keeping this monster together by yourself sucks."

"Well don't bet he can't start the cars," Peter said.

"They're all computer controlled, Peter, if I don't put the nessecary parts back in, they don't start," Rae said. "And there's no way around them."

Peter still was not entirely sure Rae could really outthink Neal, but it would be entertaining.

* * *

><p>Neal moaned, uncomfortable and hurting and not sure what was going on. He rocked his head toward his hurting shoulder and held his breath for a moment at the pain. "Hi Neal," Peter's voice said gently. Neal struggled to open his eyes, so very tired. "Peter, what happened?" he croaked, his throat dry and scratchy.<p>

"You were shot. It was a little touch and go," Peter said simply.

Neal winced, and looked at Peter again. "My shoulder?" he guessed. "More or less," Peter agreed.

"Did we get them?" Neal asked. "Yes we did, Neal. You're not going back to prison, stop worrying," Peter said.

"I want out of here," Neal said softly, looking more than a little scared by where he found himself. "In time, Neal, in time. You have a ways to go yet. Found you a new home for a little, while you heal," Peter said.

"I don't want a new home, I like the one I've got," Neal protested. "I know you do. But June shouldn't have to take care of you," Peter said.

"Peter, don't put me in another hospital," Neal sighed. "No, no, not another hospital. We have an agent who can work from home and watch out for you. Nice cars too, you'll love it," Peter snickered. "When you're well enough not to be here, that's where you'll be."

"You're gonna stick me with some cranky old guy," Neal accused.

"You wound me, Neal," a woman's voice said flatly. Neal looked at her in disbelief. Very interesting.

"Neal, this is Rae. Rae has the cars," Peter said. Rae nodded. "And I'm not a cranky old guy," she added.

Neal groaned. "Are you serious?" he asked. "Yep," Rae said simply.

The pain in Neal's shoulder started to lessen, and he relaxed a little. "How long was I out?" Neal asked.

"About three days. This is the third time you've been awake, but you weren't awake enough to talk before," Rae said.

"Oh God," Neal sighed. "You were almost dead, Neal, sleeping is not a big deal," Peter said.

"Yeah I think dead is less painful," Neal said flatly. "That's possible. You can hit that pretty button and a nurse can give you some meds," Rae pointed out.

"Oh thanks, so very helpful," Neal shot back. Peter just chuckled.

* * *

><p>Time rolled so slowly for Neal, all he wanted was to get out of this hospital for God's sake, and they wouldn't let him go until they were sure he was going to be alright. He was becoming aware of the fact that he'd be in physical therapy for a while afterward, too, simply because of the damage done to his shoulder.<p>

But at last came the day when Rae took him home, picking him up in a Mercedes Benz. That was shockingly comfortable, actually, despite not being Neal's type of car. "Ok then, Neal, you are going to wear that sling and you are going to follow instruction, because if I have to drown you in a bathtub it's gonna look real bad on my record," Rae said, looking over at Neal. He started to protest.

"I know it's not stylish. But neither is not being able to use that arm at all," Rae cut him off.

Neal sulked. It was pretty bad when some girl from the Bureau could tell you what you could and couldn't do. He was very surprised though when they pulled up at the house. Rae backed the car into the garage beside a Mustang, also not on Neal's list of fine automobiles, and turned off the ignition, popping the hood. She grabbed something and put it in her pocket, then slammed the hood shut and walked around to the passenger side door. "Come on, let's get you up to the house so you can get settled in," Rae said, helping him up so he wouldn't bump his arm and make his shoulder freak.

"What'd you just do to the car?" Neal asked, letting Rae steady him. "Killed it. Peter said you'd want to know. When it comes down to it Neal, if you steal this one, I don't care," Rae admitted. "Not exactly my favorite. Steal the Mustang though, and I _will_ drown you in a bathtub."

Rae had wisely tarped the other cars since she hadn't used them in a few weeks and wasn't going to be using them. She ushered Neal up to the house before he could get a long enough look at the wrapped vehicles to figure out what they were. "Ok. So this is where you'll be staying. I'm going to show you your rooms and so on, and then you're pretty much free for the rest of the day. June is more than welcome to visit, so is your nerd friend. You're not going anywhere for a while unless Peter comes to take you to the office or I take you for physical therapy. There's books, magazines, TV, movies, etc, you shouldn't have trouble entertaining yourself," Rae said. "And Neal..."

"Yes, Bureau Lady?" Neal sighed. "Don't blow this," Rae said, and knelt down with a pair of sheers in her hand, then cut the anklet off. She stood back up, holding it.

"Now listen," she said softly. "I'm the resident computer geek. I can do this. I can also tag you myself and make it very, very hard for you to ever get off the grid. Even your Mozz will not be able to mess with that."

Neal looked at her, then looked at the GPS, then back at her, completely surprised. She was giving him the chance to run and threatening him at the same time. How could she think that would work?

"You're getting tagged in the morning," she warned. "And I know you won't just run yet because you'd regret it greatly in about two hours."

"But you won't have a tag until morning?" Neal grinned obnoxiously. Rae grinned back. "I have it right here," she said, slipping her hand in her pocket, and pulling out what looked like a security cable.

"Oh come on. That'll take two minutes for Mozzie to break," he scoffed. "If he happens to have the right equipment to cut it, I'll give you that. But I don't think he'd like the consequences," Rae shrugged.

"That's not even big enough to broadcast a GPS signal," Neal hedged. "I'll call Apple up and tell them that right now. Thanks," Rae said.

"No power source," Neal tried to debunk it. "Nanobatteries," Rae said. "Uses your motion to generate power. Like a watch."

Dammit. She had to be at least as clever as Mozz. He fell into step beside her to be shown around the house, and was surprised to see she had made up a room specifically for him, with a great deal of the things he was interested in involved. Art histories, classic movies, all the various and sundry things he liked. "I'd have put a bottle of wine on the shelf but you're not allowed to drink it right now with the medications you're on," Rae shrugged. Hell she'd even used mostly the colors he liked. This was damn impressive.

"What makes you think I'd regret running in about two hours?" Neal asked, not wanting to give in and show her he was pleased with his accomodations. "You don't know what medications you're on, or why. And we'll just say it'd be clear as a bell then," Rae said simply. Neal doubted she had a clue, really. "You want to test that theory?" he challenged her. "If you want to suffer that's up to you," Rae shrugged.

* * *

><p>Neal was pretty sure whatever they were giving him wasn't nessecary, and if it got rid of the fuzziness at the corners of his consciousness, he was more than willing to give it a try. They didn't know what his pain threshold really was, and at this point he was pretty sure he wasn't going to hurt so bad. But he didn't think about the fact that adrenaline will hold off a lot of the pain until you do crash. Adrenaline had held off the pain when he'd actually been shot. But to be honest, Neal really didn't know entirely what was wrong with him, either, and he had vastly overestimated what little two weeks really did. He noticed after an hour, Rae was checking on him kind of frequently. But his mind was getting less fuzzy, and he would trade the pain for that.<p>

Hour and a half. Neal would probably break soon. He had to be feeling it by now, he was an hour past his dose and he did need the pain medication. Rae shook her head. How much of a fool could a genius like Neal really be? Peter had complained about Neal's stubborness and foolishness before, but she was pretty sure Neal hadn't had this option before.

She was checking on him every fifteen minutes now, because whether Neal knew it or not he was starting to look bad.

He made it to the two hour mark. And he did regret it. Rae wasn't entirely surprised to find him curled up in a ball against the pillows, having trouble breathing because of the damage to the inside of his chest wall and his lung, it hurt a great deal. And the damage to his shoulder was no slouch in the pain department either. "You going to take your meds now, Neal?" Rae asked softly, pills in hand. Neal whimpered.

"Come on. You need to," Rae coaxed, helping him to a sitting position. She got him to take them, and let him stay where he was, barely sitting up on his own, leaning heavilly on her.

"I don't really want to get into a power struggle, Neal. And you don't need to do this to yourself. You just need to do what you need to do to get better and get to where you can go back to June's. Truce?" Rae asked, holding Neal's head against her shoulder. "Truce," Neal managed.

Rae got him to relax, and got him to lie down and sleep for a little, at least until dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

**In A Moment**

_Written, spellchecked, etc. by JanieMarple._

Standard disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, nor any of the characters therein, all non-recognizable characters are not up for grabs. Yes this goes AU and yes there is a pairing in it that is AU. Don't like it? Don't read it. Originally written as a gift for my best friend.

* * *

><p>Neal didn't even consider running, all night, GPS tracker or not. He did not want to go through that again and he did not want to be curled up somewhere not knowing where he was if he did run. Rae did put the new tag on him in the morning, and he could have cared less. He was in no shape to give it a run for its money. And it was maybe a little more stylish than the one he'd worn before.<p>

Peter came to get him at six. Rae handed Peter the medications Neal needed for the day, with the times and instructions written on the bottle. Peter looked at it in disbelief as they headed out to the car. "Geez Neal, you're pretty well drugged, I don't know that I should take you to the office at all," Peter said. "Don't know how I'm going to remember this crap, either."

"I can help, Peter, I want to go," Neal pleaded. "Well alright then, you keep an eye on these yourself," Peter said, handing him the bottle. Neal tucked it in his coat pocket.

The Taurus wouldn't start. Peter swore. Rae came down from the house. "Just leave it, Peter, you can take one of the other cars," she said.

Neal immediately wondered if she'd sabotaged the Taurus. "Rae, if I'm just tooling around in the damn thing it won't be any good for a sting," Peter protested.

Rae shrugged. "The Scaglietti is getting repainted next week. It'll be good as new after that," she said. Neal's ears perked up.

"Scaglietti?" he asked. "Ferrari Scaglietti? The real deal?"

Peter sighed and nodded. "The real deal. You can't have it, Neal," he said quickly. Neal was about to protest, but thought the better of it, because at the moment he couldn't drive one anyway. Peter wouldn't let him out of the Taurus to watch Rae set up the Ferrari to go. Rae had to be doing something to all of the cars, what that was Neal wasn't sure, but it had to be something interesting if they'd let him live here around nice vehicles. Peter finally retrieved him from the Taurus and they got into the Ferrari to go to work. Neal was filled with glee at the idea of tooling around in a Scaglietti.

"Frickin' bitchin' car," he muttered, having to smile.

"Don't get used to it. I'll have the Taurus back this evening," Peter said flatly. "Rae will get it fixed."

"I hope it dies again," Neal said brightly.

Peter scowled. "You're lucky you're hurt or I'd smack you," he said. "I just like the sexy Italian car better," Neal chuckled, holding up his good hand in surrender.

* * *

><p>When they got into the office, people were a little surprised to see Neal yet, but he went right back to work with Peter. And he was considerably less useful than usual, simply because he wasn't entirely with it due to the medications. But Hughes had insisted he earn his keep, so he was here, mostly as a paperweight. Peter was a little surprised by how quickly Neal tired out, and how sensitive he was. It didn't take much for Neal to get cold, shivering in his corner without voicing a complaint because he knew it was only him. And it didn't take much of a change of tone of voice for Neal to shrink back, not sure of himself. Neal was considerably better than he had been, but he was still far from recovered.<p>

Neal shouldn't be here. Not yet. He was too breakable. And there were more than a couple people who would love to exploit that. And that was just here in the office. Around one, Peter called Rae. "I know I'm bothering you. But do you have a little time to come get Neal? He's not holding up well," Peter said.

"Sure. On my way," she said.

Neal was happy to see her. He just wanted to lie down and sleep, and that wouldn't be appropriate here in the office. "Come on, Neal, let's go," Rae said simply, and Peter handed him off. And Neal was glad to be picked up in the Mercedes, too, because that was far more comfortable than the Ferrari.

They hadn't been gone long at all when Hughes walked into Peter's office.

"Where's Caffrey?" asked Hughes, not seeing the convict in Peter's office. "Neal? I had Rae come get him. He's really not with it yet," Peter said, looking up from his mountain of paperwork. Hughes looked annoyed.

"Either he earns his keep or he goes back to prison, I'm not going to molly-coddle a felon," Hughes said sharply. "Hughes, he's a day out of the hospital, he can't do everything yet..." Peter started.

"Call Rae and tell her to bring him back," Hughes said sharply.

"Hi Rae, um, can you bring yourself and Neal back? Hughes wants to speak to him," Peter said, somewhat uncomfortable with this. "Sure, I'll just turn around, be there in three," Rae said simply.

"Reese you can't just send Neal back to prison right now, he's recovering from nearly losing his life in a botched op," Peter protested. "If there's no point in having this kid out of prison, he doesn't need to be out of prison," Hughes said.

Peter almost gaped at his boss. How was Neal going to stay where he was safe?

* * *

><p>"Alright, Neal, listen to me. This doesn't sound promising. You stay here in the passenger seat, and don't move a muscle. And if you run, there's not a damn thing Peter or myself can do to help you," Rae said flatly, pulling into the parking lot again.<p>

"Can you leave the heat on?" Neal asked sheepishly. "I'm actually going to leave the car running," Rae said simply, parking it where it was easily seen from Peter's office window. "Trust me, Neal, when I come out we're headed home."

She dug through the console, pulling out a sheaf of paper. "You promise you're not taking me to prison?" Neal asked softly. Rae looked at him in surprise. "What? No, I won't do that," Rae said. "I can promise that as long as you don't move and the car doesn't move."

"Then you have my word, such as it is," Neal said. "Good. Don't unlock the car unless it's me or Peter, alright?" Rae told him, and got out, marching quickly across the parking lot.

Peter and Hughes were arguing in Peter's office as Rae walked in. A feeling akin to anger flared within her, she was getting very tired of Hughes pushing his limits as far as what he thought he could make the agents do. She walked right up there, papers still in hand.

"Rae, where's Caffrey?" Hughes asked as she walked in. She pointed out the window to the parked car.

"Right there," she said. "Well that works. I want you to take him to the prison, we're not keeping him as a pet and if he's no use here there's no point in keeping him at all," Hughes said.

"No," Rae said firmly.

Hughes gaped. "Agent Gilmore, are you being insubordinate?" Hughes asked in shock. "No. I'm standing completely within the rights I'm given by my legal responsibilities in this situation," Rae said.

Peter looked at Rae in surprise. So there _was_ steel beneath that ice. Very, very sharp steel. "And what rights exactly do you think those are? Caffrey is bound by the law as Agent Burke's consultant and he's only on lease from the prison until Burke can't use him," Hughes threatened.

"These ones," Rae said, placing a sheet of paper on the table that outlined her rights and responsibilities as a patient's legal guardian. "That's null and void, Caffrey is able to make his own treatment decisions now," Hughes said.

"These ones too," Rae said, laying down another sheet of paper from the Bureau underlining her responsibilities protecting the witness to a violent crime who may still be threatened.

"Actually, how about all of them." she added, laying all the sheets of paper on the table.

They pretty squarely made Neal her problem until he was well. "And what if he runs?" Hughes challenged.

"Caffrey is sitting in a running car. It hasn't moved," Rae replied, pointing to the Mercedes still sitting there.

"It's only a $128,000 car," Hughes scoffed. "Yes, and an FBI asset," Rae said. "Why the hell should we coddle Caffrey?" Hughes protested.

"Because the FBI asset sitting in that car is worth a hell of a lot more than the car," Rae hissed. "Caffrey is easilly worth 128 _million_. I'm not going to let you just throw that away by putting him back in a prison when he's basically helpless and mentally fragile."

_Damn Hughes, she just told you_.

Peter was really quite happy to see that Neal now had another agent to go to bat for him. And Rae had really done her homework on this. "I've half a mind to fire you, Gilmore," Hughes spat. Rae raised an eyebrow. "Really Hughes? That's impressive. If you were my boss I might care," she replied. "You know I don't answer to you."

Now Hughes gaped and took a step back. Rae was actually playing her cards now. Peter was more than a little surprised to hear it. There'd always been scuttlebutt that Rae was on loan from another office and she didn't have a superior here. Rae had never confirmed or denied that, but she was definitely throwing down the gauntlet now.

"I've half a mind to report you for violating basic medical guidelines," she added. "Since Neal shouldn't be back at this office for _weeks_ yet."

Hughes had no response. She'd kicked him to the curb and back, and all Peter had done was be an audience. And the car was still running, and Neal was still in it, and it still hadn't moved. 

_Damn, the Ice Princess knows what she's doing..._

"Now, gentlemen. I bid you good evening. Peter, I'll email you an update on those codes you needed when I get home," Rae said, and headed back out.

* * *

><p>Neal was quite happily dozing in the passenger seat, warm and drowsy, serenaded with classical music. Rae pulled the spare keys out of her pocket and opened the driver side door, quietly sliding in and putting the car in gear to take Neal home.<p>

Don't ever wake the lioness if you think you want to mess with the things under her care. Rae was typically very calculating, very quiet, very laid back, at work at least. But she could get pissed off. It wasn't really that easy to push her that far, but she could be pushed that far. That sleeping pretty boy in the passenger seat? Yeah, she owned him now. That was officially her property. You did not want to push it where he was involved now. 

_Possession is nine-tenths of the law. _

She kept the trip mostly to the nicer roads so Neal wouldn't be jostled much, and when she finally pulled into the driveway she felt a little bad that she'd have to wake him. She parked the car and shut off the engine, then walked around to the passenger side of the car. "You're gonna have to wake up, Neal," she said quietly, gently tapping his good shoulder.

Those aquamarine blue eyes snapped open, startled. "Come on Neal, let's get you to bed for real," Rae coaxed. "What'd Hughes want?" Neal asked sleepily as she helped him out of the car.

"Anything but you," Rae chuckled.

"I think he needs better coffee. Or more coffee. Whatever comes first," Neal yawned. Rae shook her head and rolled her eyes, parceling Neal off to bed, and when she was sure he'd gotten there, she got back to working on those codes for Peter. Her cell phone rang, and it was Peter's name that came up.

"Yeah Peter?" she asked, answering the call. "How's Neal?" Peter asked.

"Sleeping," Rae said, looking across the hall to the small form curled up in bed.

"Did you change his tracker?" Peter asked. "Yes. He can't break the one he has on now," Rae replied. "That explains a lot." Peter chuckled. "What, the actual triangulation that has his location down to inches?" Rae laughed. "Yeah. I kind of like it," Peter admitted. "Codes are coming your way as we speak," Rae said, hitting send.

"Alright great. And Rae, thanks for sticking up for Neal," Peter said. "It's much easier when you're not the only one."

"I don't think he's half what Hughes thinks he is, honestly. Caffrey is far more fragile than most of them realize, but it is what made him so successful," Rae admitted. "Very clever, but there's only so much that wiry body can do."

"It's not the body you have to worry about, it's the mind," Peter warned.

"Oh I'm aware of that. I'm eager to see what a little trust can do, though," Rae said. "I think if we handle it right, Caffrey is going to be quite the cornerstone if he wants to be."

"If he gives up on chasing after Kate, maybe," Peter sighed. "There is of course always that," Rae agreed.

"Well alright Rae, thanks for the codes, and keep Neal out of trouble," Peter said. "Sure thing," Rae replied, and hung up.

She watched Neal breathe, laptop balanced on her knee. He might be a convicted felon, and he might be guilty of everything they had ever suspected him of, but somehow, somewhere in there, Rae thought there was a salvageable person. 

_Somehow, Neal, you are going to have to find a purpose in life that is honest._


	4. Chapter 4

**In A Moment**

_Written, spellchecked, etc. by JanieMarple._

Standard disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, nor any of the characters therein, all non-recognizable characters are not up for grabs. Yes this goes AU and yes there is a pairing in it that is AU. Don't like it? Don't read it. Originally written as a gift for my best friend.

_A/N: Whole story is in fact written and finished, I just need to be more diligent about posting updates for y'all. Sorry about that.=(_

* * *

><p>Rae woke with a start. She shouldn't hear crying. <em>Neal!<em> She bounced out of bed and slipped across the hall to Neal's bedside, looking at the clock fuzzily, wondering if she'd forgotten a painkiller dose for him. She hadn't. But Neal was definitely crying. _Neal cries?_ _What has he got to cry about?_ "Neal. Neal, you're ok. Neal, it's Rae, you're alright," Rae said gently, stroking his head. At first Neal flinched away from her hand, but then he started to calm down a little, and didn't mind Rae's touch.

If she had to guess, it wasn't physical pain Neal was upset about. He'd seemed to be asleep, and a nightmare was not out of the question. And on the fun stuff he was taking, his reaction to it was really not unreasonable.

"Do you hurt anywhere?" Rae asked, pausing with her hand on his forehead, gauging his temperature. "Shoulder," Neal croaked. And this touch he did flinch away from again. "Ah Neal..." Rae sighed. "I'm gonna go get you a heat pack, just hang in there."

She came back and pressed the heat pack against Neal's shoulder blade, stroking his head with her free hand. "I think I'm gonna call you Wedgwood." she said. "Wedgwood?" Neal asked, grasping onto a distraction. "Mmmhmm. You know that china that's the odd shade of blue, kind of like your eyes? That's Wedgwood. And it's china, and it's fragile. So it fits you to a T," Rae said.

Neal's pain had considerably lessened, and he was getting very drowsy. Funny, but he didn't remember Kate doing anything like this. Perhaps he'd underestimated women in general. "I am _not_ fragile and I am _not_ like china," Neal said flatly. "Ah yes, you are," Rae said, still stroking his head. "Very pretty, sometimes useful, not something you want laying around."

It took Neal a minute or two to realize she was teasing him. "And I suppose I could add that original Wedgwood is valuable and rare," she conceded, needing no protest from him. "Well there you have it then, it is me," Neal said, his vanity appealed to. He looked at the alarm clock and groaned.

"Peter will be here for me in an hour and a half," he sighed. "No, he won't be," Rae said. "There's no point in him picking you up and carting you around an hour so I can come drag you to physical therapy." "Do I have to go to physical therapy? I can't just do it myself?" Neal protested. "Doesn't work that way, Wedgwood. You're just going to have to deal," Rae said simply.

Neal nodded off, and was surprised three hours later when Rae woke him up for PT. "Come on, you bed bug," she said, giving him a gentle shove towards the closet to get dressed.

* * *

><p>Jones called while Rae was waiting for Neal's PT to be over. She could see him from here, and unfortunately she could also hear him.<p>

"Hello Jonesy," Rae answered her phone. "Hey Rae, you got Caffrey?" he asked. "Actually, a physical therapist has Caffrey. I can see him and hear him from here, though," Rae replied.

"We're not picking him up on the tracker," Jones said. Rae blinked. "Then you have the codes wrong, because he can't be off the map," she said. "He might have deactivated it or it went haywire," Jones said. "No Jones, you don't understand. This one can't deactivate," she said.

"Everything can deactivate, Rae, let's be real here. He just figured out how to do it," Jones scoffed. "This can't. There's only one thing that will deactivate it, and he hasn't done it," Rae said.

Jones started to protest, and Rae looked at the app on her phone that tracked Neal at all times. "Jones, I'm getting the signal loud and clear on my phone, you clearly have a problem on your end," Rae said. Jones muttered some and hung up, and Rae shook her head, getting back to work on the cipher she'd been given to decode.

_God Jones, you have to be some kind of a moron if you think I can misplace Caffrey in less than twelve hours._ Neal was busilly bitching at the therapist, never one to shut up. _Wouldn't take me long to find him either. I could follow his blathering._ Neal'd be happy to climb back into the Mercedes, definitely. _Dammit Caffrey, this is going to be a long two months. I hope I'm not the one who breaks._

_Ah. There it is. _Rae broke the cipher and wrote out the message. _**Hope you're not attatched to your pet.**_ What? Who sent this and to whom? Rae looked back at the email that had brought it to her. Someone had sent it to Peter Burke.

_Pet? Which 'pet' does it mean? Satch, the dog? Or does it mean Caffrey, his pet con?_ She looked up over the computer at Neal again. _I hope it isn't Caffrey. _Neal looked back at her, definitely wanting to be done with this for the day. Thank goodness he was. Rae dialed Peter's phone as she watched Neal get ready to leave.

"Hi Rae," Peter's voice sighed. "Peter, I broke that cipher you sent this morning," Rae cut to the chase. "What does it say?" he asked eagerly, and she heard him scrambling. "It says 'hope you're not attatched to your pet', and I'm really not sure what it means," Rae said quietly.

"Neal," Peter said immediately. "It was on my desk this morning." "What do you want me to do?" Rae asked, grabbing Neal by his good arm and making him walk behind her. She reached across to check that her weapon was still in its shoulder holster.

"I don't know, Rae. Just keep him home until we know what's going on," Peter said. "Too late for that. We're just now leaving physical therapy," Rae spat, annoyed with herself for taking so long to break the message. She stopped dead, staring at the Mercedes.

All the windows were smashed in and there was a yellow piece of paper on the hood. "...Rae?" Peter questioned. "Peter, we have a problem. Come get us," Rae said, her voice toneless as she ushered Neal back inside. "You'll need to have someone process the Mercedes." "On our way," Peter said quickly.

Neal was practically physically attatched to Rae at this point. Instantly something clicked. "Wedgwood, sit on the floor," she said, looking down at his ankle. Neal didn't hesitate for a second, looking up at her in surprise. She crouched down, digging in her pocket for something.

"I hate technology," she hissed, pulling out a nasty pair of linesman's dikes. She fiddled with his anklet a second, found what she was looking for, and crushed it. She waited a minute, and then cut the anklet off. She quickly stuck it in the potted plant Neal was sitting beside.

"Come with me," she said firmly, leading him by the hand. She led him across the facility, into the break room. "Alright, I need you to do what you do best, Wedgwood. Make yourself disappear," she said. "How?" Neal asked in surprise. "There are blank scrubs, swap out enough to disappear," she said, motioning generally around the room. "Like I'm not going to be obvious with my arm in a sling!" Neal fired back. "No you'll just be a really brightly colored target," Rae hissed. "Now do as I say, dammit!"

Neal scrambled to obey, not sure what she really wanted of him. Rae took the sling from him and stuffed it into her computer bag. "We're going back out there. You cross your arms so your good arm will keep your bad arm from being strained, got it?" Rae asked.

"What about the anklet? Peter is going to be pissed at me!" Neal whispered fiercely. "It's still on. It still thinks you're in it. I'm going to move it so it looks like you moved. You're going to stay where I leave you so you're safe," Rae said.

She put Neal where he'd be hard to pick out, sitting behind the front desk flirting with the staff, and stuck the anklet in her shoe, heading across the facility, and then taking it out and putting it in the bathroom trash. She went back to Neal, and looked out the window for Peter. Sure enough, Peter's Taurus was pulling into the lot, followed by a couple of Bureau cars. Peter parked and dashed in the door. "Where's Neal?" he hissed at Rae. "Joe," Rae whispered back. "Joe?" Peter questioned. "Joe. It's on the smock. We'll go with Joe Wedgwood. Pretend we're arresting him, and let's go," Rae said.

Peter spotted Neal, dressed as Rae had said. He stalked over, flashed his FBI badge, and pulled out his handcuffs. "Joe Wedgwood, you're under arrest," Peter said, cuffing Neal's hands together in front of his body. "On what grounds?" Neal protested, picking up the act.

"Drug theft," Peter said, and began to steer him out the door. Neal protested the whole way, and they met Rae in the car. She grabbed Peter's cellphone and took the battery out of it, setting it in the console with her own dismembered cellphone. "Alright, no bugs now," she spat.

"What is going on?" Peter asked. "We were tracked," she said. "Jones called and said he couldn't pick up Caffrey's tracker, and I was having no trouble. Someone else is tracking Caffrey." "What? Why?" Neal asked, frightened. "Look at my recent cases Neal. We've nailed down 90% of them. You're an asset they don't want us to have," Peter said. "Show me the anklet." "He can't," Rae said. "He's no longer wearing it."

"Goddammit Rae, you're going to get me in a world of trouble!" Peter exclaimed. "He is not getting pointlessly killed on _my watch!_" Rae replied. "Wait, you mean I can't wear an anklet? They'll put me right back in prison!" Neal exclaimed, panicked. "You _can_ wear an anklet. It's just not going to say it's you and it's sure as hell not going through the marshall's office," Rae said.

"What the hell name are you gonna use?" Peter asked. "He has a stack of aliases a mile high, we can't use them!" "Josiah Wedgwood," Rae said. "Wedgwood Porcelain," Peter realized. Rae nodded. "I can't believe I wish I was back in the hospital," Neal said mournfully. "We have to go in to the office, and I'll make up a fake identity, then you'll have to go to the Verizon store, and get us an iPhone," Rae said to Peter. "We'll put Neal's GPS tag on Verizon's network and go from there."

"I have only one question," Neal sighed. Both Rae and Peter looked at him. "When do I get these cuffs off?" Neal asked. Rae hurriedly undid them, sheepish.


	5. Chapter 5

**In A Moment**

_Written, spellchecked, etc. by JanieMarple._

Standard disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, nor any of the characters therein, all non-recognizable characters are not up for grabs. Yes this goes AU and yes there is a pairing in it that is AU. Don't like it? Don't read it. Originally written as a gift for my best friend.

* * *

><p>For some reason, Neal was completely comfortable with sleeping curled up in a chair while Rae worked on a new anklet and identity. He'd have never done it in Peter's office, not where he'd be on display while everyone looked at him, but here in Rae's little office, the cushy chair and a soft blanket were pretty inviting.<p>

Rae was just easier to get along with, and easier to trust. She gave it to you straight, and she gave it to you once, and there was no beating you over the head with it. Neal loved to work with Peter, even though Peter did grate on his nerves sometimes, because it was a competition. But he could work with Rae, too, if he had to, because there wasn't any front to keep up. Hard to even cultivate a front to put up with someone who hadn't actually met you until you were unconscious and that someone had had a pretty big hand in saving your life.

Rae looked over her computer at Neal, getting kind of used to the action. Neal wasn't often out of her sight, honestly. He was sleeping, albeit lightly, and he looked relatively comfortable. Her pal in tech would have that anklet ready to go shortly, they hadn't had to deconstruct an iPhone to do it, either. And they hadn't had any trouble putting it on Verizon's network, for that matter. Neal's new identity was pretty much done, she just needed to take a picture for a driver's license and he'd be set.

"Neal," she called quietly. "Neal, I need a driver's license photo."

Neal groaned. "Can't it wait? I look like hell," he sighed.

"That's actually going to help," Rae said. Neal tried to wake up, rubbing his eyes. He ran his fingers through his hair, which wasn't nearly so flawless as usual, either. A little bit of scruff, some slightly messy hair, and lines of fatigue on his face were going to make him far less recognizable, and that was going to work in his favor, much as he was going to hate it. As he stood in front of the backdrop for the photo, Rae felt a twinge of pity. _Poor Neal. I don't imagine life has been much fun for him in years._

Rae made the license, and everything that said "Neal Caffrey" got dumped into her desk drawer, as everything got replaced. Neal got his new anklet, and sat in pitiful resignation as they put it on. _God, he really needs a shower and a long nap._ Rae got him bundled up against the cold and they headed down to the garage to pick up a fleet vehicle so they could head home. _I'll bet Neal can't even wash his hair by himself, he can't lift his right arm that high._ She'd have to find a way to cover the bandages, too. They couldn't get wet. _Drat_.

She resigned herself to it. Neal was able to wash his hair on his own, but he was sure not happy with her when she peeled the tape off that held plastic over his bandages. "You want to watch a movie?" Rae asked, rubbing Neal's good shoulder. "I don't want to do anything," Neal muttered. "I just want to sleep."

Rae shrugged. "Go ahead then. I'll wake you for dinner," she said.

Neal was asleep nearly as soon as his head hit the pillow, there was no way around the medications making him tired, and if he was sleeping, he was healing, so she couldn't object to it much at all. But God Rae wanted to go to the Rangers game tonight. And if Rae went, Neal had to go. But it was Rangers versus Hurricanes, and the Hurricanes came to town but twice a year. And she really wanted to talk to Chad.

She'd dated him years ago, briefly, like five or six dates, when she had worked in her home state of North Carolina. They'd figured out they weren't going to be good together pretty quickly, and parted amiably. But they were still friends, and it was nice to talk with him once in a great while. They were very sure they wouldn't date again, not now that they were older and wiser. Chad hadn't really wanted to be tied down to someone who might not come home from work one day, and Rae had wanted more consistency from her significant other. Just not meant to be. Nevermind that Chad was very conscious of the fact she could make him completely disappear if he pissed her off badly enough.

Neal would be safe at a hockey game, right? No one would really expect Neal Caffrey at a hockey game, it wasn't his speed.

Hmmm.

* * *

><p>Neal wasn't sure what to make of being in the press box at a hockey game. He stayed close by Rae, still tired and not ready to take on the world on his own. "Man, you best step off my girl," said a rather compact but very muscular man. Neal held up his good hand in a gesture of innocence. "I swear I had no idea," he protested, taking a step away from Rae. "Chad, I stopped being your girl seven years ago," Rae said.<p>

Neal was still trying to make sure there was some distance. "He's kidding, Josiah. Josiah, this is Chad. He's an old friend. A weird one, but an old one," Rae said, grabbing on to Neal. "Emphasis on the old."

Chad quickly checked his hairline with his fingertips. "Gee thanks, Rae," he said. "What brings you this way?"

"You, actually. Wanted to know how you were doing," Rae said, hugging Chad. "Great except for being a healthy scratch tonight," Chad shrugged. "How's your longstanding adventure in New York going?"

"You're looking at part of it, Josiah's kinda in protective custody," Rae said. "Can I ask you a favor?" "Sure," Chad said amiably. "Can you watch him for ten minutes? I need to go make a couple calls," Rae said. "Yeah, no problem," Chad said.

Neal had settled into a seat and was ruminating on how freakin bored he was. He was just not into sports. "I won't be gone long, Josiah. And Chad's just as much of a talker as you are," Rae said, patting his good shoulder. Neal tried to put the lid on his reluctance to see Rae walk away and nodded.

Chad sat beside him, watching the game. "So what do you do, Joe?" Chad asked amiably.

"I'm a consultant for the FBI," Neal said warilly.

Chad looked at him, a smirk turning up the corners of his lips. "For what, fashion?" he asked.

Neal cringed inwardly. He didn't need this right now. "No. White collar theft," Neal sighed. "Oh. Business crap," Chad guessed.

"No. Like crime involving the theft of actually valuable stuff. Paintings, artifacts, documents, high-priced stuff," Neal shot back.

"Trip over a statue and dislocate your shoulder?" Chad taunted.

"No, you jackass, I got shot and almost frickin died!" Neal hissed, his limits at an all-time low after his miserable day. Actualy, miserable _week_ was more like it. It was hard for Chad to take that seriously, especially with Neal's sarcasm to that point.

"Yeah right you got shot. What got you out of the office long enough to get winged?" Chad scoffed. Neal put his head in his good hand, not able to deal with Chad or his teasing. He couldn't tell that Chad meant no harm. "Just, just leave me alone," Neal whispered. "You need help, man," Chad said, shaking his head. Neal tried to ignore him, knowing there wasn't really a damn thing he could do about Chad.

Rae chose this time to show back up. She stopped dead when she saw Neal.

"The hell is this about him getting shot?" Chad questioned dubiously.

"He did, Chad. He got shot just over two weeks ago," Rae sad, heading to Neal's side. "Have you been picking on him?" "All in good fun," Chad protested. Rae sighed.

"Now see, Rosie, this is why we couldn't stay a couple, dammit," Rae said, staring daggers at Chad. "Way to kick me while I'm down, Rae," Chad fired back. "Oh shush you, you've got yourself another woman, if I heard right," Rae hissed. Chad actually paused.

"No offense, Rae, I'm glad we didn't work out," Chad said flatly. "The feeling is mutual, I can assure you," Rae replied. "You want me to just leave so you two can continue your marital spat in peace?" Neal groaned.

"No, Josiah. We're all going to just chill out and watch the game," Rae said, sitting beside Neal. "I don't even know what the hell game this is," Neal protested. "It's ice hockey. It's not exactly a weekend office sport," Chad said. "It is a little more complicated and physically demanding than that," Rae conceded. "And probably involves steriods if they all look like him," Neal cheapshotted Chad. "No, steroids would really not help," Rae said. "Watch them move and you'll see why."

Neal was amazed by the mastery of balance and agility the sport took. It _was_ like football and ballet. "Some of them are built a little like you, Josiah, light and lean. But they do weigh more, they've been strength training for years," Rae said, watching one of the Hurricanes fly up the length of the ice.

The Hurricanes won the game in the shootout, and by then Neal was more than ready to go back to bed, regardless of what Rae's plans were. Rae and Chad said their fond goodbyes, and Neal and Rae headed out to the Mustang.

"I don't know what it is that makes everyone feel the need to pick on you," Rae said quietly as she slid into the driver's seat. "Just my luck," Neal said. He was cold, he was tired, and he was stressed. He could think of at least three things he'd rather be doing at the moment. Curling up next to Rae's toasty warm body was definitely on the list. Rae was the protective, sheltering sort, and Neal was definitely developing a preference for being within her reach, especially with her tendency to rub his back and pet his head.

Rae hummed to herself, her contentment while driving this abhorent hunk of aluminum and steel was measurable. Neal honestly didn't see the appeal. "Why do you like this damn thing so much?" he asked. "Because it's kind to me. It does what I need it to, nothing more, nothing less, and there are no extra bells and whistles," Rae said simply. "It's noisy and it's ugly," Neal complained.

"It's not ugly. It's mean. And that noise is lovely. It's 750 horses begging to run," Rae chuckled. "This is usually my chasing car."

"I can't imagine why. The Lamborghini and the Ferrari are both faster," Neal pointed out. "Ah, they are, but they're not quite so agile as this little beast," Rae said. "The Roush Racing Edition Mustang is really a nice car to drive. When your shoulder is better I'll let you drive it a few times."

Neal shook his head. "You're maybe too trusting. I'm a convict. You shouldn't let me drive anything," he said. "I think you have potential, Neal. You just have trouble living up to it," Rae said.

They pulled into the drive and Rae stopped short, spotting something. She inched the car forward, adjusting the trajectory to track a movement with the headlights.

"Mozz," she muttered, seeing him try to hide in a shrub. "Where?" Neal asked, not spotting him. "Behind the rhodedendron," she said, nodding in the general direction, and then pulling the car all the way into the drive and turning it around to park it in the garage.

"You sure it's Mozz?" Neal asked, still shaken by his day. "He's hard to miss, Neal. I'm sure it's him," Rae said calmly. "I'll get him, though, you can get out of the car by yourself."

She slipped out of the car, making sure to close the door loudly enough for Mozz to hear, and stood beside the opened garage door, waiting to grab the little man as he would peer in. Neal waited in the car, not wanting to be part of this if it _wasn't_ Mozz.

Mozz didn't even have a chance. Rae swiftly grabbed him by his jacket collar and touched the side of his head with her gun, knocking the lightswitch on with her elbow. "Mozzie Mozzie Mozzie, whatever are we going to do with you," she snickered softly, closing the garage door. "I don't want any trouble with you, Fed! I just want to see Neal!" Mozz demanded. "Come on, Wedgwood. Coast is clear," Rae said, nodding to Neal. Neal carefully got out of the car, the first time he'd done it on his own.

Rae let go of Mozz, sheathing her weapon. "Why don't we head up to the house for a snack, hmm?" Rae invited.

Mozz didn't object to that, and they were soon all in the kitchen. "I can't believe they left you with a _girl_," Mozz scoffed to Neal as Rae made tea and grabbed Neal's medication from the cabinet. Rae shook her head wordlessly as she set a mug of Neal's favorite tea in front of him and put his pills on the table beside it. Neal picked them up to take them and Mozz stopped him. "I wouldn't take those if I were you, they might be drugging you so you can't keep secrets from them. You don't need those," Mozz said. Neal looked at Mozz in surprise.

"I'm hurtin', Mozz. I _do_ need them," he said. "This is a painkiller, this is an anti inflamatory, and this is an antibiotic. Happy?"

"It's an NSAID, Mozzie. I even asked them not to give him steroids," Rae snickered, leaning against the countertop with a mug of cocoa in her hands.

Mozz colored slightly. "She's been taking care of me, Mozz. Her I'm not worried about," Neal admitted. "You can't trust anybody, especially these Feds!" Mozz exclaimed. "Mozz, she's cut my tracker off twice. She gave me a chance to run both times. She left me in a running vehicle twice," Neal chuckled. "Cut your tracker off? That'll land you back in prison!" Mozz protested.

Rae shook her head. "No, Mozzie. He's not going back to prison even if it means I have to drag his skinny ass back to North Carolina with me," she said firmly. "If he sticks to not running and he doesn't steal anything particularly interesting, I can't see putting him back in jail."

Mozz looked at her in shock. "So now you're a pet convict for two agents," he said to Neal.

"Nah, just straight up my pet," Rae chuckled good-naturedly. She headed into the livingroom to do something, and Mozzie shook his head.

"She knows how to control you, man, and that's not good," he said. "Mozz, it's not as simple as all that. She's not like Peter at all. She's a geek, like you are. And today when she took my tracker off and hid me, I don't know, Mozz, I think this one is genuine. As genuine as they come," Neal said.

"What if she has Kate, Neal?" Mozz countered. "If she had Kate, Kate would be here," Neal countered. "She's looking for Kate. And she'll tell me if she finds Kate, whether it's news I want to hear or not."

"And Peter already talked to Kate, Neal, why are you not getting that you can't trust these people?" Mozz asked. "Mozz. How many times have we trusted my gut on something and I was right?" Neal asked. "Many times, Neal, but I just don't think this is one of them," Mozz protested. "At least give it a shot," Neal said.

Mozz shook his head. "I'm not sure about giving a Fed a shot," he said. "Let me see your tracker."

Neal set his foot up on the chair, grinning at Mozz's baffled expression. "That's just an S-2 cable..." Mozz said flatly.

"Very good, Mozz. At one time, it _was_ a piece of S-2 cable," said Rae. "The cable had the core taken out, little widgets put in, and it now protects the widgets and acts as an antenna."

"And the snazzy ferrule holds it together. Ok. Sure. I believe tha,." Mozz scoffed. Rae shrugged and turned out the light, so Mozz could see the fiber-optic indicator lights in the ferrule.

"It was this, or an actual GPS tag inside his body. I opted for this," Rae shrugged. "And this is the second one ever made, and it's not like the first one at all. So yeah, it's pretty fool-proof."

She flipped the lights back on and Mozzie was looking at her in complete shock. "Not every Fed is an idiot, Mozz," Neal said, putting his foot back on the ground. "And the silver and black is much more stylish than that one from before." "Wait. Are you saying he's a fop?" Mozz accused Rae. Rae chuckled. "If the shoe fits..." she let it hang.

"Great. You found the only smart Fed and you're stuck with her. You're screwed, Neal," Mozz said flatly.

Neal grinned sheepishly. "I think I've been worse," he said.


	6. Chapter 6

**In A Moment**

_Written, spellchecked, etc. by JanieMarple._

Standard disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, nor any of the characters therein, all non-recognizable characters are not up for grabs. Yes this goes AU and yes there is a pairing in it that is AU. Don't like it? Don't read it. Originally written as a gift for my best friend.

* * *

><p>Rae was maybe more soft-hearted than she seemed. And she did care about Neal, even though he was a pain in the backside, because Neal needed help, whether he'd admit it or not. Having to have a therapist come to the house to work on Neal's shoulder was a pain in the keister too, but they really didn't want him out and about until they knew what was going on, since the second piece of paper had been a direct threat against Neal, comparing Neal's bones to glass.<p>

And the stress was showing. Neal was very sensitive, not sure what was coming next, and for a social butterfly, Neal was not getting out much and it was getting to him. So Rae felt she could justify this. She looked back at the backseat of the Mustang at the gloriously fluffy Siberian Husky lying there that she'd picked up from the New York Husky Rescue. Jade. What a beautiful girl. _This will be fun. He'll have to love it._

She hurried Jade into the house, setting the dog's things in the back porch and getting the dog herself to sit in the living room and stay. Then Rae stole upstairs to wake Neal.

"Neal. I brought you a girl. She's gorgeous. White-blonde hair, bright blue eyes. You'll love her," Rae whispered in his ear.

"What?" Neal exclaimed in surprise. "You heard me. She's in the living room," Rae said, grinning like a banshee.

"Rae, you're nuts," Neal said, laying his head back on the pillow. "You're gonna make her wait, then?" Rae questioned. "That's terrible form."

Neal moaned in defeat and got up. "What's her name?" he asked, running his fingers through his hair. "Jade," Rae said.

Neal headed downstairs, and Rae waited at the top to hear his reaction.

"WHY?" he exclaimed. "Why what, Neal?" Rae chuckled. "Why is there a dog in the living room?" Neal asked, looking up at her. "That's Jade. She's a Siberian Husky. She needed a home. You needed company. I figured it worked out," Rae snickered.

Neal sank onto the couch, and Jade bounced up there beside him, snuggling her warm, furry body against him. Neal draped his good arm over her and sighed. Jade rubbed her head on his chest. "I guess I can live with it," Neal conceded. "Oh come on. El said you love Satch," Rae said, sitting on the couch and ruffling Jade's fur. "This gives you someone to look out for you even when I can't."

Neal shrugged, what little he could shrug. "I like people better," he admitted. "I know you do. And Monday you can go back to work with Peter if you would like to," Rae said. "You can start with half-days if you think you can handle them." "I could work here too if you'd give me something to do other than sleep," Neal countered.

"Ok then," Rae said, getting up and going to the kitchen. She came back with three or four manilla folders. "Here's what Peter is working on, and he'd love to have your help. Your laptop is in the kitchen, on the table, in the computer bag. You can email Peter progress reports as needed, or you can call," she said. "You can take it to your room, or do it here."

Neal rose to the occasion, grabbing the laptop with his good hand and taking it and the folders up to his room so he could spread them out on the bed and look at them. More comfortable than the kitchen table, that was for sure. Jade took issue with being abandoned by her new human, and trotted up the steps to join him.

* * *

><p>When Rae checked on him two hours later, he was flopped back in the pillows, asleep, with Jade's head on his chest. Half of a report was on the laptop's screen, not yet finished, but she sent it to Peter anyway and turned off the computer. She threw the comforter over Neal's sleepy form, and picked up the folders, setting them and the laptop up on the bookshelf for safekeeping.<p>

"I hope you lighten up some, Neal. I think you're killing yourself kicking yourself around," she murmured, leaning down to kiss his forehead.

"Rae?" Neal's voice asked softly. "That's me, yes," Rae snickered softly, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Why are you helping me?" Neal asked. "Why not?" Rae replied. "You helped Peter chase me down. For years. Why would you want to help me now?" Neal said, looking up at her.

"Believe it or not, Neal, it's really not personal when we chase you down. You made it personal with Peter. With the cards and all those times you taunted him. It was never personal for me. I just had to prove the message was from you and what it said. Peter has your profile down, he knows how to trace you and how to find you. I understand how you think," Rae said, looking out the window.

Scarey thought, that. "And don't for a minute think I don't know your history with the ladies," Rae added. "You've been quite the Casanova and I'm not stupid."

Neal snickered softly, still lying there, not having moved. "Well don't think I'm stupid, either. Thinking about the FBI hottie can be a turn on, just because she's not something a convict can have," Neal countered. "Well at least you've got that right," Rae said.

"I just don't quite understand how two people working in the same department can be so night and day different and still be on my side, sort of," Neal said. "What, Peter Burke and myself?" Rae asked. "Yes. Peter wouldn't trust me with anything, you're offering to let me drive your favorite car. That's pretty night and day," Neal said. "Peter thinks you're waiting for a chance to run. And he's right, you do want to run. I know you want to find Kate, and if you'll break out of maximum security to find her, you'll run from us too. Peter's lenses are kind of fogged with your history. They have to be. That's how he's caught you, twice," Rae said.

Neal's eyes snapped open and he looked up at Rae in surprise. "And what makes your lenses any less dark?" he accused. Rae smiled. "I see what you did. You know I see that. But at the same time, I can also see what you _could_ do. You could be so much more than what you are. Like I told you. You have potential. You just have trouble living up to it," Rae said firmly, tapping the tip of his nose with her fingertip.

"You think I could _not_ be a thief," Neal guessed. "I think you can do better than that, yes. I think you could stop filching the contents of people's pockets, I think you could control your impulses to disappear things. I think you could stop being a compulsive liar if you made an effort. I think a lot of the time, you do these things to make yourself more impressive and elusive, you hide from yourself even," Rae replied.

_She's got you pegged, Neal, she knows you better than you know yourself and you hardly know her at all._ _You need to change the subject_.

"So have you found anything more to go with Peter's riddles?" Neal asked quickly. Rae's mouth twitched. She saw right through him. "I know who they're from, but I can't prove it, and I I.D.'d the handwriting," Rae said simply. "Who is it?" Neal asked eagerly. Rae shook her head. "It's not an answer you want to hear. We'll leave it at that," she said. Neal stared. "Why are you trying to shelter me..?" he asked.

"Because right now, the answer you want is not the one you want to hear, and it doesn't do you any good at all to know," Rae said gravely. "You might ask Mozz what rumblings he's heard, and I might be able to make it go from there."

"Rae. Is it Kate's handwriting?" Neal asked, halfway getting up. Rae just looked at him. "It's Fowler, isn't it. And Kate's handwriting," Neal guessed, looking at her, daring her to lie to him.

"I haven't been able to find any other explanation," Rae said flatly, trying to make it clear to him that this was really not open to further discussion.

"Then look again!" Neal exclaimed, not wanting to believe for a moment that Kate could possibly have written a death threat. Especially one directed at _him._

Fire lept into Rae's eyes. Neal actually froze. "Neal Caffrey, don't you think _I have looked again? Several times?_" Rae growled. "I can't give you the answers you want, and that kills me, because I can't find your _darling Kate_ either and she has _threatened your life, twice_."

Neal leaned away from Rae, surprised by her sudden menace. "You're not hers to kill, Neal," Rae said quietly. "And she's lucky I can't find her right now. Because I'd have slapped her to hell and back."

"Rae..." Neal squawked. "What, Neal?" Rae asked. "Rae, you're scaring me," Neal admitted, nearly all the way back in his pillow.

Rae blinked and shook her head. "I'm sorry. But I don't know what else to tell you," she said. "And this is precisely why I didn't want to."

She walked out of the room, and Neal watched her go, shaken. Rae wouldn't lie to him, would she? But how could Kate do something like this? This isn't the Kate he knew. Did he really know Kate at all? 

_And why do I still think Rae is hot when she's pissed?_

* * *

><p>Rae had dropped Neal off with Peter at the office, against her better judgement. Peter had read the half of Neal's report and decided he wanted Neal to look over some documents for him, the originals rather than the copies. Hopefully this would distract Neal for a little while.<p>

If only she could topple this plot. Even if she could put Fowler in a box, Fowler wasn't the only one who was dirty. There had to be something bigger. There had to be. Why would they suddenly want to kill Neal Caffrey? Was Neal getting too close to their operations and didn't know it? Was that why they had Kate? Or was Kate actually part of the whole shebang?

Rae swore at the taxi in front of her, in a generally miserable mood. Dammit, why couldn't they leave Neal alone, anyway? Just divert him to another project. Let him live. Let him find a way to turn his life around.

_I want a chance at Neal. I want to turn him around. Not even for myself. I just want him to see he can do it._

She sighed and started fiddling with the heat. She didn't need it. She wasn't weak and sickly like Neal. But the noise was at least soothing if he wasn't chattering away in the passenger seat.

She gave up on the heat. It wasn't the same. She needed a voice. She hit the button to turn on the radio, not even caring what it would play. Anything would be fine. Just another voice in the car. Hell even talk radio would work. Rae didn't like country, but naturally that was what tuned in. She almost changed the station, but it reminded her in a backwards way of one of her childhood friends. She left it, ignoring it just like she ignored Neal.

_You better take it from me, that boy is like a disease  
>You're running, you're trying, you're trying to hide<br>And you're wondering why you can't get free  
>He's like a curse, he's like a drug<br>You'll get addicted to his love  
>You wanna get out but he's holding you down<em>  
>'<em>Cause you can't live without one more touch<br>He's a good time cowboy Casanova  
>Leaning up against the record machine<br>Looks like a cool drink of water  
>But he's candy-coated misery<br>_

_He's the devil in disguise  
>A snake with blue eyes<br>And he only comes out at night  
>Gives you feelings that you don't want to fight<br>You better run for your life_

_Run run away  
>Don't let him mess with your mind<br>He'll tell you anything you want to hear  
>He'll break your heart<br>It's just a matter of time_

_A snake with blue eyes..._ No kidding. Neal was just like a snake. Slippery, smooth, and a heart breaker. And yeah, as pretty as he was, he definitely qualified as candy-coated misery. She was already sorry she'd ever met him. Maybe he didn't hold Rae's heart, but Rae was determined to protect him from himself. _You better run for your life._

God. What was she going to do with this project?

_You're in over your head Rae. You thought you'd just be helping him get back to being able to function on his own. You didn't think you'd be looking under every rock and behind every door to make sure he's safe._

Rae shook her head, not sure what she wanted out of this, not sure what to do next. She wasn't sure when she'd become this invested in the ongoing experiment Peter had, but she regretted it. It didn't matter what Neal had done. He didn't deserve to be a pawn in this fiasco.

_I should transfer back to NC and take Neal with me. He can read files in NC just as well as he can read them here._

He might not be followed to NC, either. Or maybe he would be. 

_I can't bring this kind of mayhem to my beautiful little state._

She hit the steering wheel with her fist, trying to chill out, but so frustrated with this whole thing. 

_What am I missing? What clue am I just not seeing?_

Four years ago she'd been only too happy to stop thinking like Neal, because he was caught and he was behind bars. It hadn't been nessecary anymore. She'd been done helping with that. But it looked like now she would have to get back to his frame of mind, try to find why he was a target, and try to find who was targetting him. 

_When did we stop chasing Caffrey and have to protect him?_

As she pulled into the driveway she could see the mailbox was full, and she tried to remind herself to get the junkmail and throw it out. She parked the car and headed to the mailbox, spinning her keys on her finger and whistling to herself. She grabbed the mail and noticed a folded piece of green paper on the top. She kept whistling as she unfolded it, and recognized the cipher. It took her no time to read this one.

_**You can't save him, Guinevere**_.

She went right on whistling, pretty sure she was being watched. She flipped through the mail, found an envelope that was suitably blank, and pulled a pen out of her pocket. She thought her message through for a second, and translated it back into the cipher she'd been breaking.

_**I think you have it wrong. Lancelot saves Guinevere. When I catch you, we no longer have a problem.**_

She set that back in the box and walked into the house. She went into the kitchen, made herself a cup of cocoa, and walked upstairs to pull up her cameras. She looked back through the last twelve hours, spotting the mail man, and then let it run slowly from there.

No. It couldn't be.

She fast forwarded to when she'd gotten home, and then let it run again. She looked out the window as she waited for the video to catch up.

Kate stood at the mail box.

Kate looked up and made eye contact with Rae. She gave Rae a cold smile, and then walked off down the street. Rae pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and hit the button to ring Peter's.

"Yeah Rae?" Peter asked. "Is Neal with you?" Rae asked. "He's right here," Peter said, sounding confused.

"Watch out. I just got a note and I just saw who left it," Rae said. "Was it..?" Peter asked, not saying Kate's name. "It was," Rae said. "Don't let Neal out of your sight."

"Dammit, Rae, this is not how I wanted this day to go," Peter groused. "You and me both," Rae said quietly.


	7. Chapter 7

**In A Moment**

_Written, spellchecked, etc. by JanieMarple._

Standard disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, nor any of the characters therein, all non-recognizable characters are not up for grabs. Yes this goes AU and yes there is a pairing in it that is AU. Don't like it? Don't read it. Originally written as a gift for my best friend.

* * *

><p>Neal wasn't sure what was going on. One minute he'd been combing through documents, and the next minute Peter saw fit to deposit him in Rae's empty office. No windows, only one door.<p>

"Alright Neal, I know you never do, but be honest with me. What do you have? What are you hiding? I know you haven't got that music box," Peter said quietly, trying not to be heard beyond the door.

"They think I have a stash. They want to know where it is," Neal said softly, sitting in Rae's chair as if that would protect him.

"Of course you have a stash. Where the hell is it?" Peter hissed.

"I told Kate it was in San Diego. I told Mozz it was in Portland," Neal said, looking Peter in the eye. "If I didn't tell my friends the truth, what makes you think that I _will_ tell you?"

"Is it worth your life, Neal? Tell me. Is it?" Peter asked, not sure what to do with Neal.

"It's all I've got, Peter, it's the only leverage I have," Neal admitted. "If you haven't got any leverage, it's hard not to just get thrown away."

Peter sighed, staring at the ceiling. "Ok. If you want to go back to the documents, we can do that. But dear God, Neal. Just because you don't have a bargaining chip, doesn't mean Rae or myself or Elizabeth would just write you off," Peter said.

Neal paused a moment to consider that. "I still can't tell you, Peter," he said, shaking his head. Peter took him back to the fish bowl and they got back to work, until Peter wrapped it up for the day and took Neal with him.

"You want to come see El and Satchmo?" Peter asked as they got in the car. "I don't think Rae would mind not cooking for you once."

"Somehow I think I'd feel a lot better about that if it was Rae you were inviting, not me," Neal said, looking at Peter in surprise.

"What, just because you have a lady friend now you don't want to be around us old people?" Peter asked, raising an eyebrow.

Neal rewarded that with an unbridled smile. "No, Peter, I just kind of feel bad for Rae. I know I'm a pain in the ass and she still takes good care of me," Neal said.

"Sounds like the one pouring on the effortless charm isn't you, for once," Peter snickered.

"Kate's more my speed, Peter. She's just as messed up as I am. Rae is too good for someone like me. She definitely deserves someone who could be useful," Neal chuckled.

"I don't see it in Rae's heart to turn on someone she loves," Peter said, and let the statement hang.

"You trying to get me to date an agent to give you more of a handle on me?" Neal asked.

Peter laughed. "If I wanted that, I can think of five I would have set you up with before I'd have picked Rae. Rae marches to her own drumbeat. But she's the best at what she does and there's not much we'd do to change that," Peter admitted.

"I like her, a lot. It's just sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night because I need my meds, and I see her standing there in the doorway, there's something very creepy about it," Neal said.

"Rae watches you sleep?" Peter asked curiously. "I think so," Neal replied. "She's usually there. Either in the doorway, or sitting on her bed across the hall with her computer in her lap."

Peter shuddered. "Geeze. I'd call her a stalker if I didn't know her better than that," Peter grumbled. "I think I know what she's trying to do."

"What is she trying to do? I can't be that interesting when I'm sleeping!" Neal laughed.

"You might talk in your sleep," Peter guessed. "Rae has been very good at getting inside your head in the past. She might be trying to be ahead of the game."

Neal blinked. "Holy crap. You're all nuts. She can't possibly think like me, she had to have been making that up when she said that before," he said, incredulous.

"No, she's not making that up at all. She can work herself into that frame of mind and she can be damn near a dead ringer for you as far as your thoughts go. She's impressive," Peter shrugged. "Rae's taken a hell of a lot of psych courses."

"That's how she does it? She psychs herself out?" Neal asked.

"No, she just lets it go where it needs to, or so I've seen. She pretty much pegged you just from your notes," Peter admitted. "I won't lie to you, Neal, I had begun to worry if there was still a Rae Gilmore or not. She dropped it as soon as the cuffs were on you."

"Wow. So if there's anyone I need to look out for in the department, it's her," Neal guessed.

"Seems pretty reasonable," Peter admitted. "But like I said, I doubt she'd really turn on you."

The silence was deafening for a couple seconds. "So. Coming to visit or going back to Rae's?" Peter asked.

"I think I'll take you up on the visit," Neal said.

* * *

><p><em>I need answers. Watching Neal sleep is not going to do it. He's not going to tell me what I need to know, awake or out like a light. I don't want to be him again. Once was enough. Whose shoes do I need to be in? Fowler's? Kate's? Mozz's? Who are they and what do they want?<em>

Rae sighed and rubbed her eyes, trying to stave off a headache. She looked at the papers laid across her bed, trying again to organize this in her mind.

_They want his stash. There's nothing worth killing him for in his stash. Hell there's nothing worth beating him for in his stash. It really doesn't matter if they know where it is or not._

She looked at her list. Some miscellaneous paintings, jewelry, artifacts, a car or two, they could all potentially be in Neal's stash. She knew what caught Neal's fancy. She knew basically what was unaccounted for. Or did she?

She looked across the hallway. He was sleeping. Did she dare? She set down the laptop and slipped across the hallway, looking down at him.

"Neal, do you have the Millenium Star?" she whispered.

"Pretty big rock," Neal murmured in his sleep.

"Did you take it?" Rae asked, her tone wheedling.

"I put it back," Neal said, and rolled over.

Oh God. If Neal had taken the Millenium Star... If Neal had it and they could prove it... Neal would be up shit's creek without a paddle. Rae was conflicted. Should she tell Peter? This was far from a reliable source of intell. And Neal might not have taken the stone at all. He might not have even considered it. Oh the hell with it. She shook him awake.

"The Millenium Star," she said flatly. "Where is it?"

"The hell should I know?" he slurred sleepilly. "F-ing ugly rock."

"What's the most valuable thing in your stash?" Rae asked quickly, banking on his half-awake state.

"Fabergé egg," Neal sighed. "Alexander."

Well that you could blame on the USSR. Ok. Convenient. Yeah, unless he was lying. Again.

"Go back to sleep," Rae said, smoothing his hair back from his face.

"No, you go back to sleep. You're a nut," Neal groaned, pulling a pillow over his head.

_I am a nut. How much have I slept in the past week? _

The number she came up with was not substantial. All Neal did was sleep. All she did was try to understand things. Maybe, if she slept, she wouldn't have to try so hard. Maybe, if she'd stop fixating on that nightmare, she would sleep. It wasn't even her nightmare to fixate on. But maybe there was something there that she needed. Maybe on some level, he did know what they wanted and just couldn't consciously think of it. 

_Yeah, and maybe pigs fly._

* * *

><p>The first thing to register in poor Rae's overworked brain was that she was quite warm and comfortable. The second thing to register was that she didn't remember falling asleep. The third thing to register was that Neal smelled way better than Jade. Neal's willowy body was snuggled right up against her on one side, and Jade was on the other. And they both seemed pretty happy with where they were.<p>

Rae looked over at the clock and nearly flipped out. She should have been up four hours ago, and she should have been at work two hours ago, and hell, she should have had Neal up and ready for PT by now. She groaned and started to get up.

"That's not where I thought you were watching him sleep from," Peter's voice teased.

Rae looked over at him in shock. "Hello Rae. Late night?" Peter asked, waving to her mess of papers strewn across her bed.

"You have no idea," Rae said quietly.

"You know there's an office full of people who can help you with this analysis, right?" Peter asked.

Rae quirked a small smile. "Last time you said that to me, we were hunting Caffrey," she said. "And I refused then, and I refuse now."

"Rae, we're not asking you to be him again," Peter said. "You don't need to lose yourself again to solve this case."

She shook her head. "Peter, how else am I to find the answers I'm looking for?" she asked.

Peter picked up a couple of papers. "You're trying to itemize his stash?" Peter asked.

"Sort of. I'm making a list of what could be in it, based on what typically catches his eye. Maybe then we can figure out what they want and how to get it," Rae said.

"You know if we find his stash he's done, right? There'll be so many thefts we can prove that I don't know how many years he'll be locked up?" Peter asked.

Rae nodded sadly, wrapping her arms around herself. "So let's worry about the bad guys and leave the stash to sit," Peter suggested.

"Off the record," Rae started.

"Off the record," Peter agreed.

"Are we saying the stash doesn't exist?" Rae asked.

"As far as I'm concerned, the stash is imaginary, Neal did his time," Peter said. "Everything after that is what counts."

"Then we agree on something," Rae said, and leaned down to wake Neal up.

"Come on, you skinny bag of bones, it's time for you to get up. You want breakfast before lunch, right?" Rae coaxed, as Neal started his complaining.

"But Rae, can't we just curl up together and call it a day?" Neal muttered, trying to avoid getting up.

Peter stifled a laugh. Some things never change. Neal would try to charm anybody.

"Nope, life goes on, Neal, so greet the day." Rae said, grabbing him by his good arm and pulling him to sitting up.

Peter just smirked. "You gonna get dressed Neal, or do you want to meet the therapist in your pajamas?" he asked.

"Good morning to you too, Peter. Ignore grumpy-pants, if you can," Neal said, dragging himself out of his nice warm bed.

"Good news, Neal, we can look at your pretty embroidery and see how it's doing," Rae said, looking at the calendar.

"I'd rather pretend it's not there, thanks," Neal grumbled. "Well you're doing a bang-up job of that," Peter chuckled.

It did look fairly good, which was definitely positive news. But even though Neal's skin was looking pretty well healed, Peter wondered a bit about Neal's shoulder blade and how that would heal and how the muscle would handle the trauma. He really had no earthly idea. It was a curiousity more than anything at this point. Neal might not appreciate Rae's bedside manner, but he could have had it a whole lot worse. Rae covered the stitches and argued with Neal a little as she got him to put a shirt on that wasn't a color he liked. If Peter hadn't known better, he'd have taken them for an old married couple, not an FBI agent and her charge.

Rae muttered something to the effect that Neal could dress like a fop after his shower, and he wasn't going to be taking a shower until after PT. He could deal with the cream colored shirt until then. Neal argued some more.

Peter couldn't help but think it'd be poetic justice if these two ended up a couple. He couldn't think of a better man for Rae the Fix-Everything Lady than the World's Greatest Con Artist, Neal Freakin Caffrey.

"Hey Peter, remember when you said you'd let me out of prison if I kept my word and helped the FBI?" Neal asked, and didn't wait for a response. "That didn't last very long, buddy."

Peter tried to hide a smirk. "This isn't prison, Neal, it has all the things you love. Cars, paintings, frauds, and girls," Peter said, moderating his voice.

"Girls? Peter, the dog doesn't count," Neal protested. "And I'd hardly call Rae a girl so much as a sexy bitch."

Rae slapped Neal in the back of the head. Peter smirked. Neal looked at Rae like he didn't know why he'd been slapped.

"Is this what every morning is like?" Peter guessed.

"Pretty much, yes. Neal and pain pills are not always pretty. They say the damnedest things," Rae growled. "And the best part is this is about as undressed as I've ever been since he got here. I think he's enjoying dreaming maybe too much."

"Oh come on, Rae, you know you want me," Neal said with a cheeky grin.

It clicked for Peter, all of a sudden. Neal was not out of it, at all. He had found Rae's buttons and enjoyed pushing them. He _liked_ Rae when she was angry.

"You're a dead man, Caffrey," Peter chuckled. "You don't know what a slippery slope you're headed down."

Apparantly Neal had decided if he couldn't charm Rae, he'd just irritate the hell out of her. "Oh come on, like Rae would kill me," Neal scoffed.

"Keep pushing and you might find out," Peter chuckled. "You could just man up and tell her you like her."

Neal looked at Peter in shock, seeing Rae turn around quickly. "Peter, I..." Neal started to protest.

"Go on, Neal. Man up," Peter said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Peter, this really isn't nessecary..." Rae said, not really sure she wanted to hear this.

"No, just listen," Peter said. "Go on Neal." Actually, Peter had never seen Neal speechless before. This was semi-pleasant in the grand scheme of things.

"I like Rae. A lot. Are you done humiliating me?" Neal said quickly.

"Yeah, I think I'm done. I'm gonna go get a cup of coffee," Peter said, grinning like someone had handed him a birthday present. It wasn't every day he got to give Neal his comeuppance, and he treasured each one. After three years of chasing his crafty self, and all the annoyances dealt, Peter liked to put Neal in his place on occaision. It was only fair.

"There should be a fresh pot set up in the kitchen, just hit the button," Rae called after him. Peter was really kind of thrilled with that idea. He did just that, waiting for the coffee to brew as Rae and Neal came down the stairs.

* * *

><p>Rae really did put up with Neal very well. More than could be fairly expected of her. And she really did make an effort to protect him. Peter thought about that as he watched Neal slog through PT, waiting for Neal because he needed Neal's help on a case he was working. When Neal finished PT, and thus finished his bitching, he headed upstairs to take a shower, still annoyed. Peter knew he'd come back impeccably dressed, as usual. Jade was bouncing around in the livingroom as Rae absently tossed a tennis ball for her.<p>

"Rae. You should drink some coffee or go back to bed," Peter said, concerned.

"I'm fine, Peter," Rae sighed, somewhat annoyed by the attention.

Peter shook his head. "You're worse than El," he sighed. "Don't run yourself ragged for Neal. It's not worth it. You're not going to help him if you can't help yourself."

"Peter, Kate was standing at my mailbox. I need to nip this in the bud before she actually has a shot at him," Rae said, looking at Peter, still holding Jade's tennis ball.

Peter gaped, shocked at this revelation. "She was _standing right there_?" he asked.

Rae nodded wearilly. "Why didn't you tell me that at the time?" Peter asked, baffled.

"I didn't want Neal to know," Rae said quietly. "I don't know how to explain to him that his ex seems to be a bloodthirsty wolf."

Peter wondered for a moment if Rae thought she had to take all of the world's problems on her shoulders.

Neal came back down the stairs, ready to go. Peter escorted him out to the car, wondering what he could do to help Rae, at this point. She was taking this project personally now.


	8. Chapter 8

**In A Moment**

_Written, spellchecked, etc. by JanieMarple._

Standard disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, nor any of the characters therein, all non-recognizable characters are not up for grabs. Yes this goes AU and yes there is a pairing in it that is AU. Don't like it? Don't read it. Originally written as a gift for my best friend.

* * *

><p>Neal fumed, pissed beyond reason.<p>

_How could Rae hide this from me? What gives her the right to not tell me this?_

He couldn't believe the footage he was staring at.

_Kate was here. She was on the doorstep. Why didn't Rae tell me?_

He watched Kate put a piece of paper in the mail box.

_What was on that piece of paper? Was it a message for me?_

Rae picked up the mail, and saw the message. She read it. She went through the mail, and wrote a note on an envelope, putting it back in the box. And then she walked out of the frame to come into the house.

_What did she do with that message?_

It had been a green piece of paper. Neal looked all over the desk, pausing the video. There was a folded green piece of paper on top of the printer. The writing inside made no sense, clearly a cipher. He took a moment to figure it out.

Guinevere? Why Guinevere? He'd never used that for anything, and it didn't have any special meaning for him. _You can't save him, Guinevere._ Kate meant business. But what was going on? Did Kate just mean she wanted him back? He looked up beside the printer again, wondering if the other two notes were there.

A manilla folder held copies of the other two notes. He struggled to understand how this could be happening, how Kate could possibly have written threats directed at him. 

_This isn't the Kate I know. My Kate would never do this._

He hit play on the video, and saw Kate's second appearance at the mailbox. The animosity in the smile she gave the camera was awful. She knew it was there. She was exploiting it. Neal groaned.

_You can't do this to me, Kate!_

He heard Rae's sigh behind him, and turned to see her in the doorway.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Neal demanded.

"Neal, there are some things you're just better off not knowing," Rae said softly. "You really think you need to read death threats directed at yourself?"

"I don't care about the notes. Why didn't you tell me Kate was here? Why didn't you stop her?" Neal asked, distraught.

"Neal, I..." Rae was cut off.

"Rae, I escaped prison to find Kate, I couldn't find her myself! You said you would help! You lied!" Neal exclaimed, storming out of the computer room.

He went straight to the living room, just wanting to be alone. He didn't want to talk to Rae right now, he had nothing nice to say. At all. He sat on the edge of the couch, closing his eyes.

"Neal, I'm so sorry. I would have told you. But I didn't want you to hurt because Kate wasn't what you had thought she was," Rae said softly.

"I just want to talk to her, face to face. I want to know where we stand," Neal said.

"The notes can't tell you that?" Rae asked, settling onto the couch beside him.

He looked at her, surprised she'd brought that up. "They sure don't make it look good. But they're notes. It's not the same," Neal replied, dropping his head into his one good hand, balancing his elbow on his knee.

"Neal, look at me," Rae prodded. He did so. She gently placed a hand on his cheek, taking a moment to just stare into his blue eyes. Just when she thought he was about to pull away, she leaned in. When their lips met, Neal felt everything. Every bit of the compassion that Rae was putting in. She wasn't taking care of him out of obligation. She wasn't just here because she was FBI. She genuinely had feelings for him, just like he did for her. Their kiss was slow, passionate, and Neal's eyes were finally being opened.

When Rae finally broke the kiss, Neal was stunned into silence.

"When was the last time Kate did that to you? I am _right here_," Rae said, enunciating the last two words carefully. "That's more to you than she is."

Neal didn't need any more prodding. Now that he saw this wasn't going to be a one sided affection, his instincts took over. He leaned back towards Rae, going in for more. She didn't deny him. Before Rae knew it, Neal was on top of her and they were both stretched out the entire length of the couch. And as much as it was killing Neal's shoulder, he wouldn't have moved if given the chance. The pleasure far outweighed the pain.

* * *

><p>Peter blinked, not sure if he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing. He'd never seen Neal with his hair that spectacularly mussed before. Neal classes himself as perfect, so him not looking perfect, that was a little odd.<p>

"What happened?" Peter asked. Neal looked at him quizzically. "To your hair. You look like you didn't bother to comb it," Peter clarified.

"Oh. Ran out of time to find my comb," Neal shrugged carelessly.

Peter's eyes went wide for a second, then narrowed. "Who the hell are you and what have you done with Neal Caffrey?" he demanded.

Neal frowned at Peter."I'm still Neal," he said.

Peter shook his head and started the car, not really sure what to make of this. The only other time he could remember Neal being this blissfully careless, Neal had had girls at his disposal.

_RAE. Neal has probably added RAE to the coups he's counted!_

Peter felt a little sick at that thought. As sleep-deprived as Rae was right now, even if she had been ok with it at the time, Peter doubted she was really in any shape to have thought it through.

_Dammit, how could I have let Neal con Rae? I should have known better. I knew she was getting too invested in this._

"... Peter?"

Peter yanked himself out of his thoughts and looked at Neal. "Sorry. What?" he asked.

"Why do they have so many names for Rae at the office? I've heard the Ice Princess, I've heard the Lioness, I've heard her called Steel. They make her sound so cold and cruel. Why don't they just call her Rae?" Neal asked.

"It's mostly business with Rae. She's very concise and very clear. She doesn't act very personal at the office. Nobody bothers to get to know her, so they just think she's cold," Peter shrugged.

Neal considered that. "She's far from cold. She's not what I had expected her to be," Neal admitted.

_You definitely hit that, Caffrey. You definitely slept with one of my agents._ _Dammit! How could you? How could you take advantage of Rae after all she's done for you?_

"Neal, did you sleep with Rae?" Peter asked.

"Other than in my dreams? No," Neal chuckled. "Not that I wouldn't."

"I'm not joking, Neal. Did you?" Peter asked.

"No," Neal said, suddenly looking halfway serious. "And what business is it of yours, anyway? Is it some kind of crime to sleep with one of _your_ agents?"

_He's a compulsive liar._

Rae's words floated to Peter's thoughts. Peter rolled his eyes and focussed on the road.

"No, it's not a crime. It should be," Peter grumbled.

* * *

><p>Peter immediately put Neal to work as soon as they got to the office. Once Neal was perusing documents, Peter went to find Cruz and Jones.<p>

"I like Caffrey's new hairstyle." Jones chuckled, as soon as he saw Peter.

"I'm more interested in how he got it," Peter growled. "Cruz I want you to go check on Gilmore."

"You're worried the Ice Princess styled Caffrey's hair?" Cruz laughed.

"No, I think Caffrey slept with Rae," Peter hissed.

Jones raised an eyebrow, trying to hide a smirk. "Rae and Caffrey, gettin it on? Nah, Peter, you gotta be nuts," Jones scoffed, amused by the very idea.

"But Neal is _never_ mussed! How else would he not bother to find his comb?" Peter demanded.

"Maybe he's getting lazy. Your circumstantial evidence has a lot of holes in it," Jones replied.

"Gaps. Combs have teeth," Cruz shrugged.

"You're not helping, Cruz," Peter said flatly.

"Peter, look at your boy toy. If Rae wants to hit that, I don't give a shit as long as there are no little Caffreys to deal with," Jones said.

"And besides. If the Ice Princess thinks #$%ing him stupid is proper repayment for her having to deal with him, more power to her," Cruz added.

"Yeah, Peter. What's the matter? You jealous?" Jones snickered.

Peter gaped. Maybe he _was_ being a little unreasonable. What - or whom - Rae did was really none of his business, as long as she didn't let Neal get away.

"Go check on Gilmore anyway, Cruz," Peter sighed. Cruz rolled her eyes and moved to obey.

* * *

><p>"You're joking, right? You have to be," Rae said incredulously.<p>

"Wish I was," Lauren sighed. "Peter thinks that Caffrey took advantage of you somehow."

"If anybody could be readilly taken advantage of at this point, it's Caffrey, not me. He's as good as retarded twenty minutes after he takes his painkiller dose," Rae laughed. "I'm only sleep deprived."

"So why did Caffrey have wild sex hair this morning?" Lauren asked.

"He didn't sleep well. And he spent the morning arguing with me, instead of primping in front of the mirror," Rae said, taking a sip of her soda.

"Has he been having trouble sleeping the whole time?" Lauren asked curiously.

"Sporadically. Seems to be no rhyme or reason to it," Rae shrugged. "Runs the gamut from nightmares to just restlessness."

"You studying Caffrey again? Maybe that's what Peter's really worried about," Lauren asked.

Rae raised an eyebrow. "Not really. Or not moreso than usual," she replied.

Lauren shrugged, and let it go at that. She went back to the office after she finished her coffee, and pretty much told Peter that there was naught to worry about.

* * *

><p>Rae was in the kitchen when Neal got back home from the office. <em>Home.<em> Yes, this was feeling more and more like home and less and less like just a place to stay. Neal seldom missed June too deeply. Rae was just... Better. And honestly, he was missing Kate less than he ever had. Rae actually _had_ a heart. She wasn't about to crush him.

"Your little hair fiasco very nearly got me into some trouble," Rae snickered. "Peter sent Lauren to check on me!"

"I think Peter just thinks a con and an agent is a match made in hell," Neal shrugged. Rae grinned, looking up. Neal leaned down to kiss her and was surprised when she grabbed the back of his head and started to dial it up a notch. She caught his lower lip ever so lightly with her teeth, sucking on it softly and tracing it with her tongue. Neal resisted the urge to just sit beside her and keep this up. For one thing, the couch was way more comfortable than the kitchen table, and for another, as much as he wanted to do this, Peter was going to be here any minute.

But oh, the feel of Rae's fingers sliding down the back of his neck, and how lovely her kisses were...

"Do they make a lock an FBI agent can't beat?" Neal moaned.

"No, why?" Rae asked, driving Neal crazy as she stayed half an inch from his face.

"Because Peter..." Neal started, and the back door began to open.

"I'll fix that," Rae said, and stood up from the table. She pulled Neal tightly against her and started kissing him again, this time starting off with his upper lip, tangling her fingers in his hair.

_The hell with Peter!_

Neal was enjoying this much more than any conversation with Peter, that was damn sure. He teased Rae's lip with his tongue, closing his eyes.

Peter cleared his throat awkwardly. Rae pointedly ignored him. 

_Well alright then. If the Fed is gonna ignore Peter, that means I can, too. _

Rae was getting a little more aggressive, too, which Neal did _not_ mind _one iota_.

"Umm, I think I get the message," Peter said quietly. Rae looked over.

"Oh, Peter. Have you been there long?" Rae asked, her tone daring him to make something of this.

"No. Just leaving," Peter said, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Good night, Peter," Neal called after his boss.

They heard the car pull away.

"I wish my shoulder wasn't busted, because I would just carry you off into the sunset," Neal said, looking down at Rae.

"Ah. Well I can walk just fine, and we can just go together," she said, tracing his ear with her fingertip. A shiver ran down Neal's spine. The forbidden aspect of this whole thing was probably what made it so sweet. It halfway made him wish this _you-know-better-than-to-be-mixed-up-with-a-Fed_ vibe would last forever.

Rae's lips met Neal's again. And Neal decided thinking was really not necessary.

* * *

><p>"I don't know, El, it just seems so wrong!" Peter tried to explain.<p>

"Peter. I was a suspect when you decided to start dating me," Elizabeth sighed, rolling her eyes. "Rae knows Neal better than he knows himself. I think she knows what she's getting into."

"I don't know if I can just have Neal dating an agent!" Peter exclaimed.

"Why not? Makes it harder to lose him," Elizabeth shrugged.

"Yes, but, it's _Rae_. I don't even know what to make of that. How could Rae be conned by Neal into a romance?" Peter asked, baffled.

"Maybe Rae isn't the one who's been conned," Elizabeth suggested.

Peter frowned. "She couldn't. And she wouldn't. Or would she?" Peter mused thoughtfully.

"You said she could put herself into his frame of mind. Means she's capable of it," Elizabeth pointed out.

"What if he runs, El? She won't help me find him," Peter asked.

"I think you sell them both short. I don't think there's anywhere Neal can go that Rae won't find him. And if there's a reason to look, and she is romanticly involved with him, you'd better bet that's better than _any_ tracker you can come up with," Elizabeth said, a note of finality in her voice. "If there's anyone you should be worried for, it's Neal."

"Why should I worry _for_ Neal?" Peter asked in surprise.

"Do we really know what Rae is capable of? Do we really know much of anything about her outside of her job?" El asked.

Peter's eyes went wide. "No. We really don't," he admitted.

"Well, then who is the unknown?" El prodded.

"Rae is. And Neal is at her mercy," Peter breathed.

"Wrong. Neal is under her protection. So Fowler may have bitten off more than he can chew and may not know it yet," El said softly.

"What, hell hath no fury like a woman?" Peter chuckled.

"No, more like where there's a willful woman, there's a way," El smiled, tracing Peter's face with her finger.

Peter ruminated over that idea for a while, leaving El with a smile on her face. _Peter_ didn't really know much of anything about Rae, but _Elizabeth_ _did_. If Peter had the sense to actually ask, Rae would more than likely have been completely honest with him. Rae was a good person. Neal could have done much worse than fall for an agent who knew his heart. She'd done a lot for Neal, a lot of things that Elizabeth had hoped Peter would do. Rae was ahead of the curve.


	9. Chapter 9

**In A Moment**

_Written, spellchecked, etc. by JanieMarple._

Standard disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, nor any of the characters therein, all non-recognizable characters are not up for grabs. Yes this goes AU and yes there is a pairing in it that is AU. Don't like it? Don't read it. Originally written as a gift for my best friend.

* * *

><p>Rae was jittery. Something didn't feel right. So much so that she'd cleaned her Glock 17 this morning. It had been odd for Neal to see her at the table with her sidearm deconstructed, the 9mm bullets out of the magazine, the copper jackets glittering in the flourescent lights of the kitchen.<p>

"How many bullets does it hold?" Neal had asked as Rae reloaded it after she cleaned it.

"Seventeen," Rae had said simply. Seventeen shots. Maybe seventeen people you hoped couldn't shoot back. Neal hated guns, there was something so _final_ about them. But would Rae really ever shoot to kill? He doubted it. Rae would likely wing someone rather than kill them. Rae had saved his life from a gunshot wound, after all. If anybody knew the dangers of guns, she had to.

Rae tried not to pass her jitters on to Peter when he picked Neal up. People usually told her that her instinct to go with her gut was crazy. She was sure Peter was no exception. But something was just... Off. She didn't know what it was. She'd find it, though.

The phone rang as she watched the Taurus head out of the drive. "Hello?" Rae answered.

"Say goodbye," whispered a female voice, followed by a click. Rae immediately dialed Hughes as she raced to pull up a trace on the last call on her computer. It went to voicemail. The call traced to a pay phone two blocks from the office.

_"SON OF A BITCH,"_ Rae spat, grabbing the Mustang keys and bolting out the door. She instinctively checked her holster to make sure her pistol was there as she slid behind the wheel, and verified the two extra mags as she turned the key and the Mustang roared to life.

_What's it going to take to make up this five minute deficit? _

The car shot onto the street, all of Rae's training behind the wheel making the Mustang a black streak slithering down the road.

_So help me God, Moreau, you so much as harm a hair on their heads..._

* * *

><p>Neal was scared as hell. Peter was unconscious. The Taurus was wrecked. And Fowler had no mask on. Clearly they didn't intend to let Neal go after this, not alive. Fowler yanked Neal out of the car and shoved him into the back seat of another car. Kate was sitting there.<p>

Neal didn't know what to do, what to say. "Hello, Neal," Kate said coldly.

"K-kate? What's going on?" Neal asked, trying to grasp onto something.

"Where is it, Neal?" Kate asked, no intention to make Neal comfortable.

"What? Where is what?" Neal asked, frightened and somewhat desparate. Peter wouldn't be coming for him. Not this time. And without his lifeline, Neal was pretty sure he was done.

"Your stash, Neal. The one with the Alexander egg," Kate said flatly, no patience for him. Fowler hit the gas and the car took off. Neal hadn't heard a gunshot. Maybe Peter would be ok. He hoped to God Peter was going to be ok. Elizabeth would kill him if he were the cause of Peter's death.

Fowler looked in the rear view and swore. "Cuff him, Kate," Fowler spat at the back seat, and then took a corner hard. Neal ached to know what was behind them that upset Fowler so. Kate slapped the cuffs on his wrists, shoving him toward his own side of the car. Fowler swore again.

"Goddamn it Kate. You should have done better than this," Fowler yelled angrily. Neal's heart skipped a beat. He didn't dare look out the back window for fear Fowler would just shoot him, stash be damned, but he sure perked up his ears to listen.

That damn car. That damned noisy American car. Rae was behind them. 

_I have a shot._

"I'll take care of it," Kate hissed, dialing Rae's cell.

_"You're dead, Moreau."_

"Keep following us, Guinevere, and I'll shoot him myself," Kate spat back at Rae.

_"If there's a mark on him when I get him back, mark my words, you're gonna match."_

"There's gonna be one mark on him if you don't back off. A bullet in his head," Kate replied, her anger at being crossed coming to the surface and flaring.

_"Don't give me a reason to shoot you, Moreau."_

"Are you blind, Guinevere? You can't see this pistol? You doubt I'll use it on your precious toy?" Kate demanded. "Back off, or I won't ask again."

Neal's hope took a nose dive as the racing engine became fainter.

"The bottle, Rae!" he yelled, hoping she'd hear it before Kate hung up. Kate hit the button to hang up the phone, striking him with the butt of the pistol. He brought his hands to his face, feeling the blood dripping down his cheekbone from his temple. He knew that had done more damage than it ought to have. He was feeling awfully woozy.

"We need to lose that tracker," Fowler muttered, as they shot over a bridge to the mainland.

"How do we get it off?" Kate demanded. Neal tried to shake his head.

"I don't know," he whispered, cringing as Kate moved to hit him again.

"Cut it," Fowler spat.

"You don't have a damn jewelers saw, you lackwit," Kate growled back.

"Use the dikes, bitch," Fowler yelled, pissed at Kate's ineptitude.

Neal just hoped Kate didn't cut _him_ as she roughly snipped at the heavy steel braid in the tracking anklet. He also hoped that they wouldn't kill him as soon as he told them where his stash was.

* * *

><p><em>The bottle?<em>

What bottle? Rae watched the Mercedes disappear into the distance. Much as she wanted to save Neal, risking his life this way was not the way to do it. What was in the bottle?

She turned back, hoping EMS had arrived for Peter as she had requested over the radio. Better yet, Peter was awake and talking, and clearly pissed. "Rae, where's Neal?" Peter asked as she got out of the Mustang.

"They have him, Peter," she said quietly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. We have to go after them," Peter said, trying to get the EMT to let go of his arm.

"We can't," Rae said. "Kate threatened to shoot Neal. And she did have a gun."

"What are we going to do?" Peter asked, panicked.

"He left me a message in a bottle. I have to go figure it out," Rae said. "You go get looked at, and I'll get right back to you."

Somehow, Peter got the idea that Rae wasn't coming back to get him. He grabbed her hand. "Be careful, Rae," he admonished. She nodded, then got in the Mustang and drove away.

* * *

><p>She parked the Mustang in the drive, not bothering with the garage, and went into the house. A bottle... What kind of bottle? It'd have to be a wine bottle. It had to be. Maybe Mozzie had brought it over. Neal hadn't been drinking, he'd been obedient in that respect.<p>

Sure enough, there was a green wine bottle on the shelf in _her_ bedroom. She picked it up and held it in the light. There was a piece of paper in there. She grabbed a pair of needle nose pliers out of her tool box and tried to fish it out, shaking the bottle from time to time to encourage the paper to go to the neck of the bottle. At last the pliers found purchase on the paper, and she gently pulled it out.

_I love you, Rae. Phoenix, Arizona._

There was a scrambled address below that. _I love you too, Neal._ She ran the address through her computer's search, going through property deeds in Phoenix.

_Jared Stihl._

Rae sighed. Jared had no idea. He couldn't. He'd only bought the property a year ago. And if Neal had hidden his stash there, it was at least five years ago. Rae's ex-boyfriend knew Jared's brother. Hopefully Jared's brother could help her get Jared out of danger.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, Rae was headed for the airport, and on the phone with Jared. And Jared was just a little perturbed to be told by an FBI agent that he'd best get out of his house if he valued his life. Especially an FBI agent who knew his brother. Jared finally agreed, and hung up, hopefully headed out the door already. Rae pondered her predicament as she boarded the small charter plane for Phoenix.<p>

She couldn't do this alone. She didn't know how many people were involved and she didn't know if she could save Neal by herself. But to bring in other FBI agents would be to send Neal back to prison, because that would be admitting he had a stash and the stash was his, and he would be prosecuted accordingly. But if she did nothing, she was sure they'd kill Neal.

On the one hand, his life and his freedom, such as it was, were at risk. On the other, Neal's chance at actually reforming was at risk. How far would Rae go to protect Neal? Would she go so far as to allow him to go back to prison? Sending him to prison would put his life at risk, too, because once the other inmates figured out he had been an FBI informant, there'd be a price on his head. She tried not to think what they'd do to Neal.

Even if she did her best, Neal stood to lose a lot.

* * *

><p>Neal had stalled Fowler and Kate as long as he possibly could, and yet an hour did not seem like nearly long enough. He'd finally given in and told them the stash was in Arizona, but they'd need his help to actually locate the items they wanted.<p>

He'd never been one for blood, and the more of his own he saw and tasted, the less he liked it. He really _hadn't_ known Kate. Ever. Else she wouldn't have so enjoyed smacking him around. His ears were ringing and he was pretty sure he had a concussion, and he was pretty sure that tremendous knot on the side of his head from Kate's pistol was not a fashion accessory.

Only now what? He was settled into the corner of the seat he was sitting in, on this small plane, bound for Arizona. He hoped Rae had found the bottle. And he hoped Rae had been able to make sense of the message quickly. There was not much that he would like better than to be met on the tarmac by Rae and a dozen other agents ready to kick some ass.

The idea that Rae would send him back to prison never really crossed Neal's mind. He knew she had plans for him, regardless of their relationship status, and that wasn't in them. Yeah. Rae would come for him. She'd bring in the cavalry. He'd make it out of this.

Shit, he didn't even know who owned the house now. He sure didn't want to be part of a murder, regardless of whether Fowler killed him or not. The thought of Fowler or Kate killing an innocent person who had no idea where the stash was, was downright nauseating. Neal couldn't care less about stealing _things_, but stealing _lives_ was not at all part of his M.O.

Neal's stomach lurched. Ok. Maybe that nausea wasn't from the idea of being killed or the cause of a murder. Because if he hadn't known any better, he'd swear the plane was spinning around him. 

_This is not a good sign, Caffrey, pull yourself together._


	10. Chapter 10

**In A Moment**

_Written, spellchecked, etc. by JanieMarple._

Standard disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, nor any of the characters therein, all non-recognizable characters are not up for grabs. Yes this goes AU and yes there is a pairing in it that is AU. Don't like it? Don't read it. Originally written as a gift for my best friend.

* * *

><p><em>Where would he hide it? There are only so many places you could put paintings and artifacts without damaging them.<em>

Rae looked around for a couple seconds, trying to think like Neal, trying to think what this might have been like six years ago when an associate had been building it. Neal would have been able to hide his loot anywhere.

_Paintings can't take the heat. Rules the attic out._

Walls only went unaltered for so long, so that ruled out pretty much everything but the basement, and that was concrete. So where the hell could the stash be?

_Could Neal have engineered a hiding place for his loot behind the concrete or just made it appear to be concrete?_

Rae beat feet to the basement, knowing there was very little time to look around before Fowler and Kate would make up their apparent time deficit.

_Naturally_, it would be a finished basement, and _naturally_ nothing would match the photos she had.

_Thanks loads, Jared_.

She heard a thud overhead and ducked into the alcove behind the bar, thankful she hadn't parked the car anywhere near here. She pulled her gun out of its holster and released the safety, making herself as small and quiet as possible. She was banking on it being only Kate and Fowler. She hoped in their haste they hadn't picked up any associates, and were hoping to have this done and over with before a pissed off Peter could bring the posse.

She was also banking on the fact that Fowler probably knew as much about her as he did about Peter's dog. Because if Fowler had had the brains to look into Rae, he would have realized how very, very thin the ice he was skating on really was. Failure was not in Rae's vocabulary. And the ends could very well justify the means. Rae wasn't on the white-collar unit for her beauty or a Harvard alumni meeting. She was there because she was _quicker_ than your average white-collar criminal.

She heard voices, and held her breath to listen and get a rough tally of how many people she was dealing with. Fowler... Kate... And Neal... Neal sounded bad.

Feet made their way down the stairs, and Rae closed her eyes for an instant, praying that Neal wasn't going to botch whatever plan he had and get himself killed.

* * *

><p>Neal's heart was somewhere around his ankles. Rae clearly hadn't gotten the message, or she'd have saved him at the airport. But at least the person who owned this house wasn't here.<p>

His head felt like he'd been run over by a herd of wild horses, and he was seeing double. And his ears were ringing. He hoped it didn't show. Because if Kate knew, Kate would exploit the hell out of it in what little time he had left.

Going down the steps was beastly. He clung to the railing for dear life. Processing enough to balance was really hard to do when you were being hurried along to your inevitable demise.

"Where the hell is it, Caffrey?" Fowler demanded, standing at the bottom of the stairs. Neal tried to get the room to stop spinning and look. It was hard to pull up his photographic memory, too. Dear God the basement had changed a hell of a lot in 5 years.

Kate struck him upside the head and everything went black for a second. He wondered for a moment if this was what it felt like to die. Would everything just go black and silent? Would the pain just go away? Or would it be a cacophony of noise and a vicious haze of agony?

Neal realized he had dropped to his knees as his sight came back with a vengeance. "Where is it?" Fowler demanded again.

"Back of the basement," Neal whispered. "Near the AC unit."

Kate raised her pistol and aimed for Neal's head. "Not yet Kate. Might be wrong," Fowler spat. "And I'll be damned if I'm gonna dig through the _whole_ basement."

Kate scowled and yanked Neal to his feet. "You'd better hope you're right," she hissed in his ear. He closed his eyes, trying to block the hurt from the sound.

* * *

><p><em>Oh God, Neal... What have they done to you? <em>

Rae watched them walk by and wasn't sure what to do. Intervene now, before the stash was found? Or intervene after? Would that be too late? Neal was walking shakily, and that lump on his head had to have a lot to do with it. If he had a plan, he was likely way outside of it now.

Pity mixed with rage. She wanted to beat Kate and Fowler black and blue for this, for the damage they had likely done not only to Neal's body but his mind. And she felt so horribly bad for Neal. His pitiful excuse for freedom hadn't helped him avoid this, and it hadn't helped him avoid a lot of hurts.

Kate shoved Neal to the floor as she and Fowler began to examine the wall. Neal curled in on himself, as if that would protect him, bringing his cuffed hands to his face to hold his head. Rae's ire rose a notch when she saw fresh blood smear on the carpet.

Neal had clearly given up. He thought she'd abandoned him. Else he wouldn't have just lain there. If only she could have let him know to hold out for a few minutes more. If only he knew that help would be there in a moment.

She stepped out from behind the counter, keeping her movements hidden behind Kate and Fowler's bickering. One of Fowler's contacts would have told him if she'd called the FBI in on this. They would have told him if they knew she had left the city. They didn't know that she was there, or else they'd have looked.

"Freeze," Rae said, standing twenty feet back and training the muzzle of the Glock on Fowler's shoulder.

Fowler and Kate whipped around. "Gilmore," Fowler smiled. "What brings you here?"

"You have something of mine," Rae said coolly, watching both Kate's hands and Fowler's hands.

"Caffrey? Thought that was Burke's pet," Fowler said easilly, getting up.

"I meant it when I said freeze," Rae said stiffly, taking up the slack in the trigger.

Neal moaned from his curled haven on the floor. Fowler whipped out his pistol in the brief second that Rae's attention was not entirely on him. He trained it on Neal's head. "Put the weapon down, Gilmore," Fowler said menacingly. "I won't miss at this range. And there won't be enough left to put back together."

"Camp Lejeune," Rae said flatly.

"What?" Kate asked, confused and pissed.

"Marine Corps base in North Carolina," Fowler said quickly.

"What do they teach Marines, Fowler?" Rae asked, stepping slightly to the left. Fowler was silent for a second, and then it occured to him.

"One shot, one kill," he said.

"Would you like to test that? Or would you like to put the weapon down?" Rae asked. Fowler made as if to put the pistol down for a second, and then started to take up the slack.

A gunshot is not quiet when you're out in the open air. Pistols are rather raucous, simply because so much has to come from so small a firearm. The kickback alone can surprise the hell out of someone not accustomed to firing a weapon. Bring that weapon inside, and the discharge is deafening. The reverberation off of concrete walls is amazing, you can feel it.

Fowler dropped to the floor and Rae bolted forward toward Kate, the sights on Kate now. Kate dropped her pistol and raised her hands. Rae returned the favor Kate had given Neal, walloping Kate's skull with the butt of the pistol.

She cuffed Kate and quickly checked for weapons, Kate's wrists tangled with her leg so she couldn't jimmy the cuffs easily. She picked up Fowler's weapon and Kate's, and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. Much as it chafed her to do it, she called in EMS.

Fowler wasn't dead, as evidenced by his swearing and wriggling on the floor. He just wished he was. If he'd be able to use that shoulder again, it'd be impressive. The amount of blood on the floor and on Fowler's shirt was impressive, too, come to think of it.

Rae called Peter's cell, turning toward Neal. "Neal, Neal, are you in there?" she asked softly, coaxing his hair away from his bloodied head. Neal only stared. Fowler hadn't gotten the shot off. So Rae didn't think that was even a likely possibility.

"Rae? Are you alright?" Peter demanded.

"I'm fine. I need you to iron some things out," Rae said, hearing sirens overhead. "I'm in Phoenix, Arizona, I've got Fowler and Moreau."

"Oh thank God. How's Neal?" Peter asked.

"I'll let you know after he's seen a doctor," Rae said, gauging Neal's reaction to light.

"What do you need?" Peter asked.

"Get Hughes on this. Fowler is dirty, put a sting on his unit," Rae said. "I'm going to the hospital with this gruesome threesome."

"Is Neal...?" Peter trailed off.

"He's alive, Peter. I'm not sure what's left," Rae sighed, getting up and going to the bottom of the stairs to yell to the EMTs and Police.

"Please keep me apprised," Peter requested.

"I will," Rae said, and hung up.

EMTs were quickly attending to Fowler and Kate, and Neal was being loaded on a stretcher. Rae quickly explained the situation to the troopers as she undid Neal's cuffs. They verified her FBI ID, and accepted her story, taking it down.

* * *

><p>Rae went with Neal to the hospital, baffled by his lack of response. FBI agents met the ambulances at the hospital, assigned to Fowler, Kate, and Neal. Hughes was already on top of the situation, thousands of miles away. Rae described Neal's lack of response to sound and his sluggish response to light to the doctor on duty in the ER, and a neurosurgeon and a neurologist were paged down.<p>

They sent Neal for a CT scan first and foremost, and his external injuries were tended to. Even if Neal's head was broken, he was doing much better now that he was on some drugs. Rae looked down at the stitches in his noggin with no small amount of anger.

"Neal, can you hear me?" Rae asked quietly.

"He likely can't," the neurologist said. "Between the secondary impact and the gunshot, his hearing is questionable at the moment. It may be temporary, we'll see over the next few hours."

"What else?" Rae asked.

"No real bleeding in the brain, just some bruising," the neurologist said.

"What's gone for good?" Rae prodded.

"There's really no way to know that. You just have to sit and wait. Short term memory may be bad over the past couple of days, or it may not be. Some senses may or may not have been affected," the neurologist said. "At best, it's still a waiting game."

Neal might not remember the past few days? The very thought of that being gone hurt. On so many levels. Would Neal remember kissing in the kitchen to tell Peter to go away? Or would Rae have to _be_ his memory?

Rae settled into the chair beside Neal's bed, determined to wait and see.

* * *

><p>Rae woke with a start, seizing the hand that was on her shoulder and twisting it away from her neck. A rather high-pitched squeal told Rae she'd made a mistake.<p>

"Oh, God, Elizabeth, I'm so sorry," Rae said softly, letting go.

"I was only trying to wake you and ask if you wanted some coffee," Elizabeth whispered. "You look beat."

Rae's eyes darted from Elizabeth to Neal, Neal to Elizabeth. Neal was still sleeping. That was good. "I'd appreciate that, thank you so much," Rae whispered back. Elizabeth smiled softly and walked away.

Peter walked in and came close to Rae. "How is he?" he asked her quietly.

"His hearing is damaged. He's not deaf anymore, but it's damaged," Rae said softly. "And they're not sure what he'll remember."

Elizabeth returned with coffee for Rae. "When can he go back to New York?" she asked.

"Don't know. Sooner if he doesn't fly," Rae said.

"Well he doesn't have to. Hughes sent your flagship," Peter said softly. Rae quirked a smile.

"He hates that car, so much," she whispered. "And that's more than 2,500 miles. That's easilly three or four days driving minimum."

"It's about 40 hours wheel time," Peter affirmed. "So split it over four days, ten hours a day. I think he can handle it. Or even five eight hour days."

Rae nodded, holding the hot coffee cup in her cold hands. "Rae, we can book you a hotel room, you don't have to sleep here," Peter offered.

Rae shook her head. "I can't leave him, Peter, not after this..." she said.

Elizabeth patted Rae's hand. "We understand," Elizabeth soothed.

Rae pinched the bridge of her nose. "Peter, I can't take him back to New York if that's straight back to prison," Rae sighed.

"It isn't. Hughes has a motion in to waive any sentencing," Elizabeth said.

"We know Neal did nothing of his own volition, and no stash was uncovered," Peter said. Rae looked up in surprise.

"What of the mess made of a private residence?" she questioned.

"An agent was undercover, tracking a crooked agent who was holding a hostage, the homeowner was very understanding," Peter smiled.

Rae was absolutely ecstatic. "Oh Neal, you've yet got a chance," she murmured, twining her fingers with his.

"See you in the morning, Rae," Peter said, sliding his arm around Elizabeth. He and Elizabeth headed out of the room and Rae watched them leave, not looking away till long after they were gone. She turned back to Neal, and just watched him breathe.

She ran her fingertips along his jaw, tracing it. So close. She'd almost failed. Almost lost him. She really didn't think she could have lived with that. Neal shifted slightly, frowning in his sleep.

"Shhhh. You're alright, Lamb," Rae soothed. Neal made a broken sound, and his eyelashes fluttered. "Go back to sleep, Lamb," Rae coaxed, smoothing his hair. Bleary blue eyes managed to open, looking up into her face.

"Rae?" Neal croaked.

"Yes, I'm here," Rae answered.

"Where am I?" Neal asked.

"St. Joseph's hospital," Rae said. "You have a concussion."

"Fowler and Kate?" Neal breathed, soothed by Rae's touch on his hurting head.

"Still kicking. Little worse for wear," Rae said.

"I'm going to prison, aren't I?" Neal questioned, a tear slipping down his nose.

"No," Rae said firmly. "You're coming back home."

"You'll still take me?" Neal asked, absolutely childlike in his battered state.

"Of course," Rae said, smiling softly. "I came all the way to Arizona to bring you back."

"When can we go?" Neal asked, his eyes roving around the spartan hospital room.

"As soon as the doctors ok it. Peter and Elizabeth will be here in the morning to say hello. Why don't you go back to sleep?" Rae encouraged.

"You won't leave, will you?" Neal asked. Rae shook her head.

"No, Lamb. I'll be right here," she said, and leaned in to kiss his nose.

Neal closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, letting Rae continue to pet his head. Much as he hurt, he was safe.

Rae had saved him, after all.


End file.
